Film Review - Rocketman (2019)

Rocketman is directed by Dexter Fletcher who also directed Eddie the Eagle in 2016 and is produced by Matthew Vaughn and concerns Sir Elton John (Taron Egerton) and his rise to fame as a pop star as well as the downsides of that life as well as in his personal one.

I was really excited for Rocketman mainly because I love Sir Elton’s music and also last years Bohemian Rhapsody which Mr Fletcher had to step in and finish that film after Bryan Singer was fired from it in late 2017 was a movie I really had a great time at plus I had loved the trailers for this movie so could it live its life like a Candle in the Wind or would it be proof that indeed Sad Songs Say So Much.

Well happily this was a case of the latter as this movie is terrific fun on the big screen and firstly I have to start with Mr Fletcher’s direction as he does a great job here as he did on Eddie the Eagle where he brings a briskness and a looseness to the proceedings that makes the overall filmmaking here seem effortless and the musical sequences ranging from Wednesday Night’s-sorry-Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting to Rocketman to Crocodile Rock so much fun and it makes you want to get up out of your cinema seat and start singing and dancing along like in the film though you probably shouldn’t but at least you can still get your pretend mic-sorry-water bottle at least.

Also Mr Egerton is great as Sir Elton, he captures the pain, the anguish, the diva, the vocals and the larger than life personality of the man very well and he does a great job with the songs as well, Jamie Bell is also good as Bernie Taupin as is Richard Madden as John Reid while Stephen Graham pretty much channels Ray Winstone as Dick James.

If I have a minor quibble with the film (and its really only a minor one in the grand scheme of things) its that some of the second half with the drinking, coke sniffing, pill popping and overall self destructive behaviour kind of grated with me but not to the extent that it derails the entire film like it did last year with A Star is Born and also Bryce Dallas Howard is terrible in this, she does this really cartoonish British accent which just really got on my nerves after a while.

And so that was Rocketman and you can Feel the Love Tonight with this movie from me as I had a great time watching it, it looks and sounds great on the big screen and you should go and see it with a cinema crowd as it is WELL worth it, 4 out of 5.