ELVIS

Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge

Screenplay & Direction by Baz Luhrmann

Language : English

I have long been an admirer of Elvis Presley, as I have a penchant for soul music. I did not know anything about Elvis’ life before watching the film, except for the fact that he eventually turned to drugs in his last years. I was therefore looking forward to seeing this movie. However, it is safe to say that his legacy has largely been tainted by a production which can only be described as being deeply strange. I left the cinema wishing I could get back the 2.5 hours it took to see.

The only reason I did not leave the movie halfway through was because of Austin Butler’s convincing performance of Elvis. Elvis is a tough character to play, with his erratic movements, iconic accent, eccentric personality, warped sense of self and fragile mental state, especially in his final years. Austin Butler was able to incorporate all of these elements into his performance, and therefore he was quite a pleasure to watch.

However, most of the other characters were relatively one-sided. Tom Hanks’ character never seemed genuine to me, and when he turned out to be evil, I was not surprised at all. When a character is that predictable, it takes away from the whole viewing experience of a film.Some scenes were also incredibly drawn out, and I found that they were not filmed very effectively, so I did not understand why they were kept in the production. Certain big events in Elvis’ life were too fleshed out, and I could tell that the audience around me was also losing interest about halfway through the movie. Visually, the movie was appealing, with flashes of bright, neon colour and fun, energy-filled dance scenes. This was further enhanced by the excellent costume design and makeup. These things, in part, distracted from the mediocrity of the film as a whole.

This movie was pretty bad, except for Austin Butler’s performance and the design of the sets, costumes, and makeup. For this reason, I would rate this movie a

5/10