Elvis

ELVIS (12)

D: Baz Luhrmann

Warner Bros / Bazmark / The Jackal Group (Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick & Schuyler Weiss)

Australia/US 🇦🇺🇺🇸 2022

159 mins

Biopic/Musical

W: Baz Luhrmann, Jeremy Doner, Craig Pearce & Sam Bromell

DP: Mandy Walker

Ed: Matt Villa & Jonathan Redmond

Mus: Elliott Wheeler

PD: Catherine Martin & Karen Murphy

Cos: Catherine Martin

Austin Butler (Elvis Presley), Tom Hanks (Colonel Tom Parker), Olivia DeJonge (Priscilla Presley), Helen Thomson (Gladys Presley), Richard Roxburgh (Vernon Presley), Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (B.B. King), David Wenham (Hank Snow), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Jimmie Rodgers Snow)

Austin Butler does a great job impersonating the King of Rock & Roll’s voice and mannerisms in this rowdy biopic, which is let down by being from the perspective of the irritatingly miscast Tom Hanks as Elvis Presley’s shady long-term manager Colonel Tom Parker, as well as Baz Luhrmann’s direction, which is like watching a circus on acid with its constantly in-your-face visuals and frenetic editing that goes a hundred miles per hour.

Following Presley’s career from his humble Memphis beginnings to his sad Las Vegas decline, but the soundtrack throws in anachronistic songs on top of Elvis’ best known hits for reasons on the director knows.

Technically, the film has much to boast about, with great sets, costumes, makeup and cinematography, but it’s far too long for a story that really doesn’t tell the audience anything about Elvis that they didn’t already know and the director’s style is likely to leave you with motion sickness before the second act has even begun.

Butler’s performance deserved a much better showcase to frame it, as this isn’t an Elvis movie, it’s a Baz Luhrmann movie.

5/10