Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is caught in a trap

Posted on 23rd October 2022

Baz Luhrmann’s latest movie is a kaleidoscopic biopic of Elvis Presley, audaciously telling the story of his rise to fame through the distorted prism of Colonel Tom Parker. There have been so many attempts to capture Presley on film – Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Bruce Campbell have all had a go – that you have to wonder what else there was to add. The answer is Austin Butler, who captures Elvis so perfectly that he disappears into the role. Bouncing off him is Tom Hanks, who must have delighted in playing against type, as the utterly evil, and utterly bogus, Colonel.

The movie is shot through with Luhrmann’s signature style – a kinetic mashup of retro images and state of the art movie magic. This is an exhaustive, and sometimes exhausting, run through of Presley’s career, from childhood dreams to forty-something nightmares. A broad brush is taken to the telling of Elvis’s rise and fall, and considerable liberties as well, but there’s no denying the visceral power of Luhrmann’s vision. As the two stars battle it out for screen time, there’s little elbow room for the other people in Presley’s life, largely presented here as cyphers, but I dare say that’s how things must have seemed to the man at the time.

Luhrmann’s co-writers Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner are clear on the true roots of Presley’s success, injecting scenes of the young Elvis moved by gospel in his youth throughout, and there’s poignant fun to be had with cameos from BB King and Little Richard. The abiding mood maybe regretful rather than celebratory, but this film is nonetheless an extraordinary musical whirlwind that showcases an enormous talent that was tragically frittered away on the altar of greed and avarice.