In the 2022 Elvis movie, Austin Butler delivers the best performance of 2022. This is a heavily stylized, but drawn out, biopic.
Elvis (2022) is a movie about Elvis, but it is super unique because of the story it chooses to tell. It dives into the relationship between him and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), which sets it apart from other biopics. At times, this does hinder the film, but overall it really works.
This angle heavily dramatizes Elvis right out of the gate. Viewers might not go into it expecting it to be a big epic film, but the first 5 minutes will send chills down their bodies, and they won’t stop until the movie ends.
The problem with this story choice, however, is that we don’t get to dive deep into the more personal sides of Elvis. Whenever it feels like we are getting close to breaking through the surface, there is a time jump or more manager dilemma.
The manager story is great, but in the larger scheme of this 3 hour movie it limits how deep we can really get. Another example of this is how they graze over him stealing/being inspired by Black blues performers.
Elvis gets deep into his musical origin, where he came from, and why he was so entranced by it, but they never tackle anything deeper.
But how is Austin Butler as Elvis? He is perfect. Butler delivers the best performance of 2022 by a long shot. He isn’t just playing Elvis, he IS Elvis in this film. Some fans were heavily doubting him as Elvis, but in the second half specifically, he became the showman that Elvis is. He impresses so much that audiences’ eyes will be glued to the screen.
A lot of the movie’s showman aspects come from the exceptional direction. Baz Luhrman’s style elevates this movie so much that it will reel viewers in and keep them on the edge of their seats throughout. The editing will sweep them off their feet, and when combined with Butler will keep fans engaged the entire time — which is a long time (nearly 3 hours!).
That being said, the editing does mess with the overall pacing of the movie — which is not good for a 3 hour movie. It is super fast in the first act as we speed through his origin, but thankfully the second act is paced very well. And the finale? Unfortunately the third act gets unbearably slow.
The fast editing and dramatized middle lead to the ending being, best described as, weird and unfitting. As a whole however, if you are an Elvis fan this is a good watch with a phenomenal performance from Austin Butler as Elvis and perfect direction from Baz Luhrman.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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About Elvis
ELVIS is an epic, big-screen spectacle from Warner Bros. Pictures and visionary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann that explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler and Oscar winner Tom Hanks.
A thoroughly cinematic drama, Elvis’s (Butler) story is seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks).
As told by Parker, the film delves into the complex dynamic between the two spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America.
Central to that journey is one of the significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge).
