'Rocketman' - Movie Review

The movie opens on Elton John (Taron Egerton), in a spectacular devil costume complete with large red wings, storming into a rehab clinic to begin sessions. Most of his life to then is shown in musical flashback. His parents were spectacularly cold, although he had a reasonably good relationship with his grandmother. His first male lover of any importance (John Reid, played by Richard Madden) was also a business partner, and nearly as cold as his parents. Which led to a descent into alcohol and drugs, and him driving away his best friend and lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell). Or so the movie tells it, often in the form of his most famous songs, or blunt statements of fact that people don't actually say out loud.

I have mixed feelings about it, but it's memorable and the performances are good.

Egerton has already had a lot to do with Elton John: in 2016 he covered John's "I'm Still Standing" in 2016's "Sing" (not a great movie, but I think Egerton's version of the song is better than John's ...), and they were both in the appalling "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" - can't remember if they shared any screen time and I refuse to rewatch it to find out (the first "Kingsman" was a huge amount of fun, but the second ... urgh).