This sprawling, time-hopping musical biopic focuses on the close but difficult long-standing relationship between Elvis (Austin Butler) and his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), the man who launched and guided his career for better and worse, from Elvis's spiritual musical awakening as a boy to the remarkable comeback special and the sadness of the declining final years. The film swings wildly between inventively-edited montages to melodramatically-written soap opera, with less of a focus on the music that might have been hoped for. In spite of a relentless feel of being glossily manufactured similar to Bohemian Rhapsody, the first half particularly does a good job of conveying Presley's roots in R&B and soul/gospel music (together with the tensions it created in 50s segregated USA) that pays off in his reinvention in later years. This is unquestionably an excellent showcase for Austin Butler's talent, but as Parker this film has one of Tom Hanks's less convincing performances. This film is interesting as it follows some of the machinations and decision-making that led to the inconsistencies in Elvis's career and legacy, but the man himself feels a bit short-changed by the movie.
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