I’ve really never been one much for biopics, finding that the restrictions of condensing a person’s lifetime down to a relatable 90-120min slice with a clear through-line and character arc tends to oversimplify what it is to be a person, even a great and notable one.

So I come out the other side of Elton John’s story feeling that Taron Egerton’s performance deserved more attention than it got and that the method of interweaving music and theatricality into a musician’s life story was creatively handled and well produced, but that what makes someone who they are is harder to quantify than with a handful of scenes, quick sketches of a time and a place punctuated by abstracted narrative music videos. These were/are real people who all lead rich and complex lives, and so much is lost in the simplification to a product. Life is still going on for them. Elton is even due in town on his farewell tour fairly soon.

The best “biopic” is still WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY – a parody of the genre that plainly states the story beats of this type of film so bluntly that it necessitates a more creative angle from anyone hoping to do it seriously, much like how CABIN IN THE WOODS so thoroughly satirised the horror genre that filmmakers had to think twice about their own approach.

I digress.

If you’re a fan of his music and are intrigued a little more by the life behind it then there is certainly plenty to love about ROCKETMAN. Egerton was hand-picked for the role and truly does great things with it, going so far as to learn to sing in brilliant mimickry of one of the all time rock’n’roll greats. It’s very straightforward, but that’s not a bad thing.

Absolutely watch this over the trainwreck that was BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY.