Critics are weighing in aboutElvis.
“Rather than carving a meaningful path to guide Elvis through history, Luhrmann simply floats him through the years on a raft of nonstop music that bumps into an endless series of biopic clichés at light speed into the next until it finally capsizes a few decades later,” wroteIndieWire’s David Ehrlich, adding that both Luhrmann and Presley “deserve better.”
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman, however, calledElvisa “fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream — a spangly pinwheel of a movie that converts the Elvis saga we all carry around in our heads into a lavishly staged biopic-as-pop-opera.”
Whether or not they liked the movie as a whole, most critics commended Butler, 30, forhis performance as the late music icon.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty
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David Rooney wrote forThe Hollywood Reporter: “As for the big question of whether Butler could pull off impersonating one of the most indelible icons in American pop-culture history, the answer is an unqualified yes. His stage moves are sexy and hypnotic, his melancholy mama’s-boy lost quality is swoon-worthy and he captures the tragic paradox of a phenomenal success story who clings tenaciously to the American Dream even as it keeps crumbling in his hands.”
Deadline’s Pete Hammond called Butler an “ideal choice” both “visually and vocally.” He added, “Butler thrillingly succeeds, especially in the film’s first half, with an authentic rhythm that makes us wonder what greater heights Elvis could have climbed had he not succumbed to the dark side of his own fame.”
Justin Chang, in aLos Angeles Timesreview, said Butler is “a decent physical match for Elvis and a better one vocally.”
Warner Bros. Pictures
The singer’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley, 76, gave the film her seal of approval in a recentInstagram post, saying her daughter Lisa Marie, 54, is thrilled with the way the drama — which focuses on Elvis and his relationship with his managerColonel Parker(Tom Hanks) — turned out.
“I’veseenElvisthe film, I watched the trailer over a dozen times,” Priscilla began the caption of her post, alongside a trailer for the movie. “But the words I heard from my daughter on how much she loved the film and that Riley will love it too when she sees it brought tears.”
Noting that she “relived every moment in this film,” Priscilla continued, “it took me a few days to overcome the emotions as it did with Lisa.”
Elvisis in theaters June 24.
source: people.com
