Whatever Happened To Reginald Dwight?

“Rocketman” is the musical biographical film about the legendary Elton John.  He was born Reginald Dwight, in case anyone was not sure about the title.  Dexter Fletcher is the director while Lee Hall is the credited scriptwriter.  Taron Egerton takes on the lead role and is actually proven to be a solid casting choice.  Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and Bryce Dallas Howard are also included in the cast.

This is a musical in the classic sense with people breaking out into song at random throughout the film.  Egerton is known to have sang on his own and does a fine job with it. There’s no way he could sound exactly sound like Elton John, but that still somehow makes the experience better.  It would not be entirely surprising to see Egerton earn an Oscar nomination here.

Some aspects the film seemed a little unnecessarily gratuitous, but I am a staunchly conservative Christian, so of course I am going to wince at some of the excesses depicted in this piece.

I did have some difficulty keeping my bearings as to where I was in John’s timeline as the movie progresses.  I may be too reliant on years being flashed on the screen during biopics.

If I were to meet Elton John, I doubt we would agree much on social or political matters, but I did grow up enjoying a lot of his music over the years.  It was interesting to be reminded of his outlandish stage appearance early in his career.

I didn’t find this to be any grand masterpiece of cinema, but it was engaging.  I certainly could not find fault with the cast or the performances.  Howard seemed to be a bit of a risk as Elton’s mother since she is only nine years older than Egerton, but this isn’t the first time that such a suspension of disbelief was required.

Anyway, any criticism I may have is fairly minor for the most part.  It’s an interesting, thought-provoking movie about someone whose musical talent has made an enormous, if somewhat complicated,  impact on the culture.