I was going to post this up in the MOVIE STUFF YOU ONLY JUST REALIZED, since only after watching ELVIS (2005) did I realize that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is actually a talented actor, and his work in ALEXANDER (2004) as the treacherous Cassander had not been a fluke. After four punishing seasons of TUDORS and last springs FROM PARIS WITH LOVE, I was beginning to give up hope
Anyway, I enjoyed this. Really enjoyed it. I saw the original Carpenter/Russell ELVIS miniseries earlier in the year, and was rather impressed by it. I have a mild appreciation of Elvis, but he's no where close to one of my favorites. The mini managed to be dramatically interesting even though I was not an Elvis super fan though, and Russell's turn as 'The King' was utterly gripping. As far as I was concerned, Russell WAS Elvis whenever he was on screen. It was a world class star turn, and should be mentioned in any list of great 20th century performances
So, as you may have gathered from my opening paragraph, I'm not a big JRM fan. He was alright in ALEXANDER, but in TUDORS I've found him to be spectacularly weak. Until I saw this mini last night, my feelings towards him could best be summed up as 'mild loathing'
Once I saw it though? That all changed. Sure, he can still be dull as dishwater, but maybe in the right role he really does have some sort of spark of originality that works for him
ELVIS (2005) was at least as good as the Carpenter joint, perhaps even better. Meyers so effortlessly slips into the role that whenever he's on screen you're hard pressed to remember Russell's take on the material. Meyers undergoes a transformation every bit as complete as the one Mr Russell underwent, and he manages to be captivating and electric in ways I've never seen him repeat
While I liked the 70s mini, I have to admit that at times it felt a bit like hagiography, coming so soon after Elvis' death. Some issues felt like they were being swept under the rug, or explored less than fully out of some sort of ill conceived reverence to the fallen 'King'
ELVIS (2005) has none of those problems. It's not afraid to make Elvis look bad in certain scenes, and indeed, by the end of the three hour running time I came away feeling like the message of the mini was that Elvis was an enormously talented individual who never really managed to be as great as he could have been because of shitty management and mooching friends.
It's definitely worth a look, and IMHO it's the definitive portrayal of the singer as far as I'm concerned. The movie/mini doesn't shy away from making certain figures (like "The Colonel") out to be the crooks they were, where as the older Mini was a bit more cautious about that kind of thing
Has anyone else seen it?
PS Rhys Meyer's dancing is great
