Rocketman

Rocketman is a very different take on a biopic, loosely telling a fantasy version of the life of Elton John. It was directed by Dexter Fletcher and stars Taron Egerton as Elton John, Jamie Bell as his musical partner Bernie Taupin, Richard Madden as Elton's manager and lover John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton's mother. As one of the producers said in the behind-the-scenes material, it is a biopic that is not a biopic, and a musical that is not a musical. It starts out with Elton in rehab, relating events from his life at a group meeting. Then we see the events play out in flashbacks that every so often breaks out in musical numbers. The songs used in the movie (mostly his songs from the 1970s) were selected from Elton's vast catalog of music but were not exactly tied to the time frame that the events in his life actually occurred. For example, the movie shows the song Saturday Night's all right for Fighting being played before Elton and Taupin ever meet. The songs were used mostly to fit with particular scenes in the story, not to convey when in his career they were actually released. Also, the movie does not tell events exactly as they happened or when they happened. For example, the final act of the movie shows Elton leaving rehab using the song I'm Still Standing which was released in 1983, yet he actually went to rehab in 1990. Even though the movie is a more "fantasy" telling of Elton's life, using actual events but often times putting a different spin on them, it does convey the mess his life was as he was coming to terms with his sexuality, using and abusing drugs and alcohol, and his issues with food, as well as his rather horrible family. Bryce Dallas Howard does a wonderful job playing Elton's mother and certainly gives the impression that she saw him just as a meal-ticket. For those who get the 4k set, the movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The UHD disc only has the movie, and all the extras are on the regular Blu-Ray disc. Those include about 20 minutes of deleted scenes, a handful of making-of featurettes, a version of the movie that will display the song lyrics during the musical numbers, and a version of the movie that just plays the musical numbers. All-in-all a very good amount of bonus material for those who like to watch it. Overall, the movie is very good. While I do think it would have worked as a more "traditional" biopic, without having musical numbers where everyone in the scene breaks out into song, I get why the choice was made to do it that way. Taron Egerton not only does a great acting job playing Elton, but he also sang all the songs, and not just lip-synching to the real songs. This allowed them to re-arrange the songs to help tell the story yet still keep the character of the original songs. For many of the songs, they were arranged to start differently and then transition to sound more like the album versions. While I cannot say that the movie is going to appeal to everyone, if you are a fan of Elton John's music and/or know a bit about his life, it is definitely worth checking out.

I loved this movie. I don’t know why it took me so many years to finally watch it. I think with MICHAEL coming out recently I decided to watch a bunch of biopics. I’m glad I did. I’m glad I watched this one. It was done entirely in a unique way. I absolutely loved it. Taron was brilliant and deserved an Oscar for his performance. The music was stunning. I bought the soundtrack too. That’s how much I loved this movie. I’m happy to add it to my collection.

Great movie. Love it.

very entertaining, great music and storyline

I ordered this so I could watch it again.

This review is not about the movie itself. Rocketman is a biopic about a musical icon, so naturally you might want to expect that there is music in it (that's for anyone who might be shocked to learn this is a musical?). Personally, I love the movie, and I saw it multiple times in the theater. I was REALLY looking forward to seeing all the extras, including the extended musical sequences (!!!) and deleted scenes. If you're looking to buy Rocketman, you should know that there are exactly ZERO extras in the standard DVD version. I felt this was a little unclear in the online descriptions. I can now confirm that it is true. The packaging is a slap in the face that chastises you for choosing the DVD over the Blu-Ray, even though many of us may only have the capabilities to play the standard DVD. Should we really have to upgrade our whole system simply to watch the extras of a movie?? The standard DVD also comes in the cheapest packaging available. I've really never seen such a badly packaged mega-hit movie. The picture and sound quality are fine, but there's really no good reason to not include any extras. Hell, I'm willing to pay more than $18 (the price of the DVD) to get a standard DVD that includes all the secret, exclusive extras only Blu-Ray or digital viewers have been deemed worthy of seeing! That being said, the best deal is the Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital package, which was approximately $5.00 more (I bought both versions - $41 total, Paramount!). That has one standard DVD, one Blu-Ray disc, and instructions on how to redeem your digital video. But, once again, all 75+ minutes of extras are secreted on the Blu-Ray disc. Paramount should be ashamed of their deceptive handling of this release. (No, I don't have a Blu-Ray player or plans to buy one any time soon. I'm keeping both disc versions for some distant moment when I will have the opportunity to unlock the secret content, but, from now on, I will probably get all my DVDs from the library.)

Take care which disc you buy. Not all will play on US Blu-Ray players. This particular disc will play correctly in the USA without problems.

This was an interesting movie and not your typical biopic. It has many layers and every time I view it, I see something different or new. What catches the viewer is how Elton storms into group therapy wearing a Devil Angel costume. He lists all of his addictions (drugs, sex, alcohol, bulimia, shoppping). Some of the dialogue is tongue in cheek, but there's still a serious tone to it. Every time the scene goes from excerpts of Elton's life to the group therapy scene, Elton has removed something from his costume: first the devil's horns, then the wings, until he strips away all the artifice and layers as he gets better until he's wearing ordinary clothes like everyone else. We see his journey leading up to his addictions: the cold father, the hypercritical mother, the child prodigy, the rock star. Elton does everything to kill Reginald Dwight and his past. In the end, he learns to embrace his inner child and love himself. As somebody going through personal difficulty, I can relate to Elton's story. I don't have Elton's talent to carry me through to a life of luxury and the best therapy money can buy. It was inspiring to finally see adult Elton embrace little Reggie and I'm hoping I can learn to love myself as well. I wish Elton the best and like the man himself, this biopic is glitzy, outrageous at times, moving, colorful and never dull. I also enjoyed hearing Taron singing Elton's greatest hits. Taron Egerton does a fantastic job portraying Elton John He's not a lookalike, but he embodies the singer's mannerism, personality and he can sing. I loved Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupman--he had the look down perfectly for each decade. The actor who was quite the scene stealer was the very photogenic Richard Madden as the calculating John Reid. He played the villain with a cold sensuality and was a person you despised, in spite of his movie-star good looks. The child who played Elton as a little boy was a doppelganger--he looked so much like him from the photos I've seen. This is an enjoyable film you will watch over and over. While it's more of a fantasy biopic, there's truth behind the glitz and it's a creative yet appropriate way to explore the life of a very colorful, flamboyant entertainer.

4KUHD + Blu-ray (輸入盤) 4KUHD に情報通り日本語字幕、吹替有ります。（もちろんディズニーではないので歌唱部は原語です。） 歌唱部にも字幕があるので日本語・英語の切り替えができます。 Blu-ray に日本語は有りませんが、映画を観た方は内容を把握していれば、ミュージカルがメインだと思われるので問題は小さいと思います。 映像特典はミュージック拡張版4曲、削除&拡張版10シーン、インタビューやメイキング計44分、シングアロング(色が変わる)13曲分、ジュークボックスなどです。インタビューは日本語がないのでよくわかりませんが、英語は表示できるので皆さんは頑張って翻訳してください。 劇場公開は日本は3ヶ月遅れたので、でも待ちきれない人は是非挑戦してください。その価値はあると思います。(後はサイフと相談)

This is a sort of biopic of Sir Elton John`s life in movie form, the singing and the music is fabulous and just like being at his concert! The actor`s who portray all of the parts are magnificent including Taron Egerton who plays Elton and who sings all of the music by him! The executive producer is Elton John himself as he wanted the film to be historically correct, it has many sad parts but also some very happy and enjoyable parts too?! I enjoyed watching this film so much and have watched it 3 x times already!! Don`t hesitate, just buy it, you won`t be disappointed!

Sin ser fan de Elton John, si te gusta la música (buena de verdad, no lo que hacen algunos), ésta película debes tenerla. Con audio en Castellano y la calidad es impresionante, y con un precio que no llega a los 10€. Nada más verla a ese precio la pedí, desde el Reino Unido, tardó cuatro días pero mercer mucho la pena.

Nothing else to add the 4k disc is superb as is the film.

Taron Egerton is always worth watching. For a good-looking young man, he doesn't mind appearing in the most unflattering guises to service a role - often the sign of a dedicated character actor. He certainly manages to embody Elton Hercules John with the minimum of make-up effects. And sings the songs to boot. Unlike the recent Freddie Mercury/Queen bio-pic, this is more of a musical where the characters often break into a song and dance routine during the drama. In fact, it is exactly how I imagined the flamboyant Elton John would want his story depicted! It's certainly entertaining, with laughs and tears and the musical genius of John/Taupin threaded throughout.