Sir Elton John’s 76th birthday just passed, and it got me thinking I should probably rewatch Rocketman. Part fantasy, part drama, and mostly biographical, John’s life story is told through his own music, beginning when he first caught the music bug as a young boy and spanning most of his life. Portraying the larger than life music icon is a herculean task (especially for a man whose middle name is Hercules), but Taron Egerton rises to the occasion and then some. For every moment bursting with color and sequins, there’s a darker moment highlighting John’s isolating struggles with addiction and the ways it affected everyone around him. Egerton plays every beat brilliantly (with a voice to match); everyone else in this cast, too, understands the assignment and brings the energy required to pull a movie like this off, from Bryce Dallas Howard as John’s mom and Jamie Bell, who stars as John’s best friend and creative partner Bernie Taupin, to Richard Madden as John’s longtime manager and lover John Reid and Heartstopper‘s Kit Connor, who briefly portrays John in his teenage years. If you found yourself wishing Bohemian Rhapsody was sexier and more over the top, Rocketman might be the music biopic for you.
Everett Collection
