Elton John's Rocketman Movie Review

Rocketman takes us into the life of Elton John from when he was a little boy to when he started cleaning himself up from drugs and alcohol.  It opens with Elton John, played by Taron Egerton, storming into a AA meeting in full regalia, an orange-red sequence devil outfit with huge feather wings.  He narrates the story during his AA meeting. 

Elton John's songs are used to tell throughout the film to help show the significant moments in his life. The film contains many montages: everything from John's hits rising up the charts; the concerts, headlines, fans; shopping sprees; trying on various clothing pieces such as his hats and glasses.  

The real Elton John served as an executive producer and mentor to Taron Egerton on the film. He didn't really want to be on set every day because he didn't know if this would cause him to be triggered so his boyfriend made sure the film does Elton justice.  

Taron Egerton blew me away. Egerton is known for his role in the action-comedy Kingsman movies. He did all his own singing. At times, he sometimes sounded a little like Elton John I thought they lied and he was lip syncing.  I couldn't imagine how much pressure on one him because this role is a huge role especially since Elton John is still alive and will see it. He has a very appealing screen presence. You tell he put so much into this role.  

Director, Dexter Fletcher and writer Lee Hall, did such a great job created a new level of meaning to the lyrics. Dexter and Lee did a great job creating a beautifully flowing film. There may be a couple times I felt like it was a little repetitive but the film flowed at a great pace. I didn't find myself bored like I did with Bohemian Rhapsody.  Rocketman covers a substantial amount of his life. 
It covers many of his major key events such as:

• His relationship with his parents. Throughout the film, we cut back to John's youth when he was known as Reginald Dwight who has a father, Steven Mackintosh, who disliked his son. He never hugged him, He never told him how talented he was and never showed him love. His mother was a promiscuous mother, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. The only family member who was kind to him was his grandmother. 
• He discovers himself in song and attends the Royal Academy of Music. 
• How he met his longtime collaborator and close friend, songwriter Bernie Taupin, played by Jamie Bell. 
• Connection with Taupin in the late 1960s and the early parts of their enduring collaboration. 
• The creation of his stage name and trademark style
• His star-making performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. 
• John hooking up with manager John Reid, playing by Richard Madden. 

I believe this a very relatable film for people. When I was a child my father never hugged me and told me he loved me. I saw all my friends doing things with their dad and my dad didn't. My dad never put me down like Elton's dad did.  

This film is a flashy, emotional, and inspiring film.  It has so many of Elton John's popular songs. You leave the theatre with them stuck in your head. Rocketman is a lot like Bohemian Rhapsody because they are both about reinventing themselves to escape the truth of their sucky upbringings. 

I found Rocketman to be a pretty clean film for a rock star life. Yes, there are scenes of flirtation, romance, affection between men, sex scene that begins with men kissing each other passionately, brief nudity, language, doing cocaine, drugs, drinking, and suicide. There isn't too much violence. There is domestic abuse. They really tamed down Elton John's life. It contains many big flashy dance numbers and bits of surrealism. I have seen more films with 10xs more of these. I would rate this film 4 out of 5 stars.