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As a Baz Luhrmann apologist, I agreatly disappointed in the director’s latest offering. Elvis lacks the attention and focus to give the audience something truly memorable. Instead it’s one long 159 minute commercial of Elvis’s career. What’s worse is the whole time Elvis feels at a distance from the audience. The story is narrated by Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks in a wildly over the top performance that is silly. There’s a lot of blink and you’ll miss it moments. Rarely does Luhrmann slow things down to focus on human moments or give us the keenest observations of Elvis.
Not all of it is bad. Something the film does a great job of is tapping into the impact Elvis initially had with his gyrating moves and the effect he had on an audience (specifically female audience members). The best sequence in the film is when Elvis plays that the Lousiana Hayride. The build up to the moment and the reaction he gets from the crowd is the closest the film comes to giving us an exciting moment. The rest is shallow and unfocused
