David Farnor | On 19, Feb 2023

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks
Certificate: 12

“It don’t matter if you do 10 stupid things if you do one smart one.” Those are the words of Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), just before he goes on to discover the young Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) and turn him into a superstar. They’re words that feel increasingly pertinent the longer that Baz Luhrmann’s goes on – and, at 160 minutes, it goes on for a long time.

The film chronicles Presley’s career from beginning to tragic end, but by framing it through Tom Parker’s lens, it gives the whole endeavour a larger-than-life quality that fits all too apt for such a mythologised figure. From the opening sequence, which turns Las Vegas upside down, every shot is fuelled by a dizzying surge of energy that echoes the uncontrollable reactions of girls and women when they see Elvis – and his hips – on stage. Nobody other than Baz Luhrmann can craft cinema with such palpable music video-charged electricity, and DoP Mandy Walker and editors Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa are tuned into that same wavelength, turning every element of the production up to 11.

From transitions that leave us spinning like endless hit records to split-screens that match the fragmented state of Elvis’ wellbeing in his later years, just watching the whole thing come together is a thrill, with music seamlessly segueing from one track to the next without pausing for breath. The influence of gospel upon young Elvis is evocatively emphasised and reinforced through vivid flashbacks to those formative moments.

It’s a shame, then, that the script doesn’t know when to stop, throwing more and more at the screen with stunningly choreographed abandon – by the time we’re in woozy casino daydreams, or hearing Elvis sing Suspicious Minds at the point where he begins to suspect Colonel Tom might not be a good guy, your stamina may well have reached its limit. And yet that excess is also fitting, with Tom’s circus background leaning into the lurid showmanship of showbiz, right down to a key contract being agreed on a ferris wheel.

Perhaps the problem is that Tom Hanks’ heavily accented performance is too cartoonish for the heightened world Luhrmann has crafted. The same can’t be said, though, of Austin Butler, who is remarkable as Elvis, from his karate moves to his deep voice, which gets deeper and more pronounced the more his on-screen and on-stage persona develops. “The only thing that matters is that that man is on that stage tonight!” demands Tom at the beginning and end of his tale – and, once again, he’s right: when Austin Butler steps out on stage, any problems Elvis the biopic has instantly fade away into the background. It’s a star-making turn about a star-making turn, and if that’s one decision that Luhrmman’s film gets right, the rest might not matter at all.

Add to Watchlist