Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Rating: ****
It doesn’t matter if you have never listened to the music of Elton John. Dexter Fletcher’s biopic is designed to make you empathise with the iconic rock and roller. At the very least, understand him. Sympathy is key to understanding a person, for, as the song goes – and it’s not an Elton John chartbuster – there’s not enough love to go round.
Elton John, like everybody else on terra firma, sociopaths excluded, yearns for love. Only, the affection that his best friend and lyricist Bernie (Jamie Bell, impressive) Taupin has for him, is Not That Kind of Love. You know what I mean, gentle reader. For, Elton John (real name Reginald Dwight) believes he’s gay.
The thing is, your reviewer is not sure if he was born that way. He never displays any same sex inclinations growing up as a piano prodigy, he even has an affair with an attractive landlady, until a musician kisses him squarely on the mouth and declares he is Gay. But Elton is unsure and says, “I don’t know” when someone asks him about his sexual preferences.
That kiss steers him towards best friend Bernie who assures him of his affection. Only it’s not that kind. In due course, Elton has a steamy affair with his venal manager John Reid (Richard Madden) and later marries (and divorces) a woman named Renata. Zooming to the top of the charts, Elton slides into a decadent lifestyle, going pretty much downhill, psychologically.
Director Fletcher effectively employs group rehab sessions as a framing device. As the film opens Elton, dressed as a red horned demon says, “I’m an alcoholic, fairy, drug addict, sex addict and shopaholic…”
You admire him for the struggle with his inner demons, even though he’s not a very reliable narrator: For, he tells blatant lies about his father’s love when the truth is the father (Steven Mackintosh) was distant and deeply critical while the mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) put her own needs first.
The viewer also realises something that Elton, sadly, does not. His grandmother and heterosexual buddy Bernie love him deeply, unconditionally. For instance, Bernie immediately accepts his confession of gayness, in contrast to his gay manager Reid’s advice to hide in the closet. Wallowing in self-pity, Elton goes to pieces, even as he throws himself into his music and showmanship.
Taron Egerton essays Elton John in a charismatic performance which is as good if not better than Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury. Surreal in parts, Rocketman is illuminated by a talented ensemble cast, eye-popping choreography and most of all, a life-affirming message of hope and second chances.