Elvis

Releasing last weekend, Elvis thrusts into theaters as the newest biopic about a legendary musician. Elvis is told from the viewpoint of Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) as he guides and steers Elvis (Austin Butler) into becoming the greatest show on Earth. As their journey progresses, Colonel and Elvis begin to diverge in terms of how their label should proceed.

This is a great movie that pays tribute to a great icon. The movie does a great job of providing a summary of Elvis's life as well as dives into his inspiration and impact on others. Of course, as a movie, it does take some liberties in changing what happens in life but I never found a problem with that. Sometimes what happens in real life doesn't always make for a good story, so the movie needs to embellish and alter some aspects to give the story more conflict and emotions. While it does a good job of providing the overall layout of Elvis's life, it is not going to be 100% accurate and that is ok as it makes for a good movie. Of course, the music is excellent in this film, getting to hear a lot of Elvis songs is always fun. I also really enjoyed the style of the storytelling, especially the way some of the flashbacks were portrayed, it was very colorful and exciting and was something unique. Finally, the main standouts of the films are the castings of Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Austin Butler does a great job at portraying Elvis. The way he talks matches Elvis's voice and he nails the dancing. As always, Tom Hanks does a fantastic job in another Oscar-worthy performance. It is especially interesting to see him play against type as more of a sneaky con-man instead of just a nice guy. Overall, this is just a great movie with fantastic casting.

The main issue I have with the film is the viewpoint from which they told the story. Colonel Parker is very clearly made out to be the antagonist of the film but the movie decides to tell the story from his point of view. Not only is it very weird to have the story be viewed from the antagonist but it hurts the Elvis character too as now the movie is telling Colonel Parker's journey as he encounters Elvis instead of Elvis's journey and his growth. It also provides conflicting messages in the movie, as it is clear that the Colonel does some bad things but when he tells the story he acts like he is in the right. It almost felt like the studio wanted Tom Hanks to be the lead in the story because he is the better-known actor instead of having Elvis be the lead in his movie. I feel if the movie would have been told from Elvis's perspective, it would have worked a lot better.

Overall, this film is another solid entry in the musician biopic genre but because of who the film chose to tell the story, the movie was prevented from being as good as it should have been.

Grade : B Score: 7.5/10 Recommendation: Go check it out.