Review: 'Elvis' not worth seeing twice

Three out of Five Stars

By Julie Newell
Editor in Chief

 “Elvis,” released in theaters in June of 2022 and now available on HBO Max, brings to life the story of the “King” of rock ‘n’ roll.

This film stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager.

This film is told from the point of view of the manager, The Colonel, as he is on his deathbed and is looking back on his relationship with Elvis.

The film starts off going through Elvis’ childhood and how he grew up in the poor parts of Mississippi. It shows how he loved and was inspired by comic books and African American music.

The story moves along to when The Colonel first saw Elvis perform at the Louisiana Hayride, and persuaded Elvis to let him take control of his career exclusively.

The film goes through Elvis’s career and shows his troubles with the law, his stint in the military, his love life, the loss of a family member and his battle with drug addiction.

Overall, I didn’t think the movie was bad, but it wasn’t great either.

I thought the actors were amazing. I will always be a fan of Tom Hanks and I thought Austin Butler was a dead ringer for Elvis Presley.

I also enjoyed the musical performances. However I thought adding into the movie a song from the popular artist Doja Cat called “Vegas,” which combined modern music with Elvis’ version of “Hound Dog,” was strange.

The song was fine and, if they had put the song somewhere near the end of the movie or in the credits, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But they put it in the middle of the movie, and I just felt like having the modern song didn’t fit with the scene or theme of the movie.

I also thought having the movie told from the perspective of The Colonel was interesting. To me, it felt like this was more a story about The Colonel, which just happened to have a secondary focus on Elvis, more than this being a story about Elvis Presley himself.

Bottom line is, the movie wasn’t horrible, but I probably wouldn’t watch it again.