Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jamie Bell, Harriet Walter, Tate Donovan, Gemma Jones, Charlie Rowe, Jimmy Vee, Steven Mackintosh, Matthew Illesley, Kit Connor, Ophelia Loveibond, Celinde Schoenmaker, Stephen Graham, Rachel Muldoon.

We are all the heroes of our own story, that much is universally acknowledged, we may flatter to deceive ourselves, we embellish certain parts, omit the painful if possible and yet despite all this we might also think of our existence in stark black and white, the villain, the destroyer of dreams and the devil in everybody else’s detail. It is human nature to see ourselves as both the dashing hero and the anarchic tornado which sweeps through the lives of others, pulling the ground that is beneath their feet and tossing them aside when the mood suits us.

In that sense the Elton John fantasy biopic, Rocketman, is perhaps more telling than just a simple addition to the music of one of Britain’s great entertainers, it is one that confronts the truth of a person’s history, in which the admission of being a force of nature is as conflicting as the sheer scale of beauty to which he bought happiness to those who were fortunate to never get completely dragged into the madness he, and others, created.

The soundtrack may not be as stirring as the recent film about Freddie Mercury and Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody but in the end that does matter, what comes across, and despite it being billed as a musical fantasy, is the enormity of how some of the players within Elton John’s life come across, the ache that you feel for the musician as John Reid allegedly sends his life out of control, the constant friendship shown by Bernie Taupin, played with warmth and charm by Jamie Bell, the dedication of his grandmother and the stand-offish, the neglectful way in which his parent’s destructive relationship impacted upon his own life.

In this aspect we understand why we see our own story through the memories we create, in which events may become muddled, glossed over and abandoned, not least with the relationship between Elton and his mother, played superbly by Bryce Dallas Howard, the frankness of her neglect, of the shame she admits to feeling is one that strikes a chord and is beautifully captured in Taron Egerton’s own responses in the guise and shadow of Elton John’s life.

A musical fantasy immersed in truth, guilt, showmanship and excess, for the fan it will be seen as one of enormous pleasure, for the onlooker it will come as a surprise, for those closest to Elton it may come as a revelation. Superbly imagined, classic songs weaving themselves through the narrative, the pain and destruction of a life out of control coming face to face with redemption.

Ian D. Hall