I would have been in diapers when Elvis Presley passed away in 1977. I don’t think my parents even met when Elvis was in his prime, circa 1960s. And yet, here I am talking about a man that first captivated the hearts of an entire nation, and simultaneously, the world. If we are watching this film in 2022, it just means one thing ladies and gentlemen – Elvis never really left the building.
While there are several films, documentaries and TV shows about Elvis, and even conspiracy theories that he is still alive, the fact remains that no other American singer, alive or dead, has achieved so much fame and fortune in such a short time. A caption at the end of the film boldly states that Elvis remains the bestselling solo artist of all time. Even today, 45 years after his death, the Elvis Presley estate earns about US$ 40 million annually in royalties. That’s about the same Justin Bieber makes from his concerts. The big difference being, Elvis is long dead, and when he was alive, never set foot outside the United States. So why is Elvis Presley still such a beloved household name, even posthumously?
Directed and co-written by the king of style, Baz Luhrmann does bring all the bells, whistles, buckles and jumpsuits you would expect in a film about the king of Rock ‘N’ roll. But unlike the 1988 TV movie Elvis and Me, a 240 minute intimate version told from the perspective of his wife Priscilla Presley, this 2022 iteration appears to be less about Elvis, and more about the forces that rocket propelled Elvis into instant stardom, and then contributed towards the death of that star. This is played out in three acts, where the first is Rise and Fall, the second is Comeback, and the third is Supernova; but told from the perspective of his serpentine manager – Colonel Tom Parker.
We get a glimpse of Elvis as a child in a poverty stricken family from Tupelo, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee. Years later, and heavily influenced by Gospel and Rhythm & Blues by the local African-American community, Elvis’ first public appearance in 1954 with That’s Alright Mama sends the crowd into a frenzy and the female audience quivering in carnal ecstasy; Not by his baritone voice or pretty boy looks, but by the sight of his hip gyrating like a machine-gun firing unlimited ammo. Something like this had never been seen before and the crowd wanted more. But with each performance, Elvis became a novelty, even as allegations of animalistic vulgarity and voodoo doll dancing started flying around until the moniker ‘Elvis the Pelvis’ stuck. With Elvis as his golden goose, the Colonel tells us, the viewer, that the rise and demise of Elvis is due to us, because he loved being loved. It’s a bitter-sweet ending we knew was coming.
If Elvis was solely about Elvis Presley, this would have been the best film of the year. Sadly, it isn’t. The editing is a mess with too much political agenda and too little about Elvis, the person, the performer, the husband and father. His stint in the US Army and Hollywood is a blur. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy gets prominence, while the make and break of his relationship with Priscilla is side-lined for two short scenes. Between Comeback and Supernova, it’s all glitz, glam, Cadillacs and private jets at blinding speed, until we see actual footage of an obese Elvis belting out his last cover song Unchained Melody to a crowd of thousands. Although his version of the song is spellbinding and etched in eternity, Elvis looks haggard and ghastly. The fire is gone. The end is near. Supernova.
What happened in between? How did a Southern country boy loose his identity and become a commodity? Some of these answers are presented through a break in the fourth wall, and as often as Parker tries to convince us that there would be no Elvis Presley without him. Caught in a Trap? As the puppet master that took 50 percent of the profits but maintained 100 percent control over Elvis, Parker will also try to justify why he is not the villain of this tragic story. While the script and story line is limited by hit and miss inadequacies, the delivery by Austin Butler is par excellence. If Rami Malek rocked you as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Butler looks and feels possessed by the ghost of Elvis. It takes a few minutes for you to catch the resemblance, but once that happens, you can’t keep your eyes off him. You would also need a few minutes to recognise Tom Hanks as Parker. With a Pinocchio nose and heavy prosthetics, Hanks is limited in facial range as a distant second compared to Butler. Together, this is their story, and theirs alone. The consequence of which is we don’t come away knowing more about Elvis than we already knew. But in between, we get a photographic replica of an icon that changed music from nothing to everything it is now.
