Butler nails The King

In typical Baz Luhrmann style Elvis starts off at 100 miles and an hour and pretty much stays there. The twist is that this biopic is told not from the point of view of The King but that of his manager "Colonel" Tom Parker, not that this stops old Tom from coming across like the exploitative conman he was. Spoiler alert, he wasn't actually a colonel.

For whatever reason Hanks plays his fellow Tom like a cartoon villain, with ridiculous accent to match and while it takes a while to get used to making the character so over the top means watching him is a little more palatable. While Parker's business nose does help Presley in some ways an ominous early shot of Elvis standing underneath a carnival geek sign makes clear the colenels intentions for "his boy".

Despite the framing this is still very much the story of Elvis Presley and Austin Butler is excellent in the title role, a daunting task given how well the man is known and the calibre of some of the actors to have given the role a go previously. While he isn't a perfect match look wise he nails the voice and persona, easily sweeping the viewer along a roller-coaster ride of Elvis's highs and lows.

This roller-coaster approach is a double edged sword. The movie looks fantastic is always entertaining but offers little in the way of introspection, never stopping to dig into the way Elvis feels at anything other than a surface level and his personal relationships are left largely underexplored. Even in the relationship that forms the basis of the film its never quite clear why he is so deeply in thrall to Parker.

Elvis aficionados aren't going to find any new revelations here but that really isn't the point, you are just along for the ride with a master showman.

7 crooked colonels out of 10 Kings.

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