Rocketman almost immediately disappointed me.
The Rock of Ages style vibes from a jukebox musical automatically put me in a foul mood. I don’t need to hear Ron Howard’s ginger daughter singing off-market Elton John songs from the later years. Hell, the original video made Robert Downey Jr lip-sync the tune. So, why should I stick with a film that dicks about through staged interpretations of a young man’s fantasy of a life.
Taron Edgerton kills in the lead. However, he’s hitting on all of these weird notes. You might say that Rami Malek went paint-by-numbers and got an Oscar win for his efforts. Well, that’s more of a black mark on current Academy voting rather than a judge of quality. Where was I? Oh yeah, Edgerton is wasted.
Elton John is a flamboyant rockstar that snorted everything and Greek love’d his way through a chunk of the 70s and 80s. He got clean, met Ryan White and then got fat. Edgerton is one of the emerging leading men of the British movie scene. I get that John is a friend of MARV and they all party together on shared productions. However, I can’t help but feel that they could’ve tailored the film to both parties’ strengths.
Somewhere between the recent success of Bohemian Rhapsody and the semi-disclaimer text included inside of the 4K case, one has to wonder what’s going on. Elton John has a bit of material included in the set that tells you to buy his book to get the true story. Meanwhile, the casual movie fans will think this is nothing more than a far more flamboyant take on the lesser film Bohemian Rhapsody.
The 4K is an impressive package, but I’d expecting nothing less from Paramount. These guys slap together peak special features, a jaw-dropping 2160p transfer and a Dolby Atmos track that will rattle your teeth. The Elton John “Buy My Book” booklet is weirdly insert and that’s really my only fault with the 4K release.
Rocketman hits Blu-ray on August 27th
There was also a Rocketman LA Dodgers Concert promo event last weekend. We got a picture!
