Spoilers: in case you were wondering, the rumors are true – Tom Hanks plays The Penguin, Alfred the Butler and Commissioner Gordon all-in-one in this one.
From the subversive visionary behind Romeo + Juliet (1996) and The Great Gatsby (2013) known for traveling far beyond the assignment comes a formulaic yet colorful frenzy that is never less than a fun musical biopic. After spending three years away from his family while filming due to the pandemic, Austin Butler has officially become what Baz Luhrmann so desired: the latest screen sendoff to Elvis Presley. Meanwhile, Elvis’ cinematic rebirth, in turn, proves to walk hard with Forrest Gumpian fervor. Apropos, considering Gump actor Hanks’ truly cartoonish heel turn as the talent-managing narrator, Colonel Tom Parker, who proudly fosters years of marketability [at the expense of unsettling financial abuse] out of a natural born showman who needed no promoter.
Luhrmann’s directorial flavor is an acquired taste, but a taste sure to shake up the Oscar race, and at least give high-performing summer blockbusters not starring Tom Cruise a run for their money. Elvis came out ahead of the billion-dollar global-grossing Top Gun: Maverick this weekend, earning $31.1 million compared to the legacy sequel’s $29.6 million – according to their respective studios, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, and The Hollywood Reporter.
While genuine quality and genre popularity were contributory ingredients baked into Elvis’ box office success upon arrival, the ultrakey factor: wielding a structure that tracks well today. At the bookends of an all-encompassing, literal life-spanning narrative, we find Elvis an infatuated Captain Marvel Jr. fan. The film explores how a boyhood affinity for comic book superheroics turned the once small town soul-sayer who dared to suit up pink no matter how much of a stink was created, into a storybook-certified living legend donning capes upon capes.
Elvis will inherently draw comparisons to the polarizing Oscar darling that was 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which starred Rami Malek as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in a Best Actor-winning performance. But it actually bears more of a resemblance to the following year’s Rocketman. Like Taron Egerton’s Elton John interpretation, Butler doesn’t just get the choreography down pat. He uncannily channels Elvis’ vocals too. Anyone left melancholy when Miles Teller finished runner-up to Butler during the audition process stands corrected this week. After all, Teller himself would admit he made off A-OK when tabbed to redeem a need for speed of a different kind; whereas Butler was afforded the well-earned opportunity to prove his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) breakout offering was no fluke.
In fact, if his sprawling Elvis workload is any indication, Butler seems to have inherited many delivery, demeanor and screen confidence skills from his Oscar-winning ‘Hollywood’ scene partner, Brad Pitt. Shadowing a leading man giant of this ilk clearly taught Butler a thing or two on how to have enough of everything seen, and everything behind the scene, to both carry a film, then promptly steal it from an Oscar winning co-star sharing above marquee terrain.
With retrospect, Elvis can also be viewed as Butler’s “Val Kilmer in The Doors moment,” should he, like Kilmer, resonate enough with the powers at be to command offers from Marvel and DC. Only time will tell if Butler will don a cape for either of them; regardless, it can never be denied that he rocked the boat and more while rocking one as the only and only King of Rock and Roll.
Elvis is currently playing at AMC Stony Brook Loews, Regal Ronkonkoma, and Sayville Cinemas.
