YMMV / Elvis (2022)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Vernon Presley an Abusive Parent who had the doctor drug up Elvis so he could perform because he prioritized his son's career over his well-being? Or was he simply ignorant about the effects the drugs were having and honestly believed the doctor was doing what was best for his son's health?
• Award Snub: Despite having eight nominations, the movie ultimately left Oscar night empty handed; the most bemoaned loss was Austin Butler losing Best Actor, who had perhaps the most buzz of any lead actor during most of the awards cycle and multiple wins, including the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
• Awesome Music:
  • As to be expected in a film about Elvis, every musical number is incredible. Bonus points for even including footage of the real Elvis at the end of his career, showing off how stellar of a performer he was even well past his prime.
  • Special mention goes to "Toxic Las Vegas" that mashes up both Elvis and Britney Spears and makes it work.
• Base-Breaking Character: The Colonel, most notably Tom Hanks' portrayal of him. While nearly everyone agrees he is appropriately slimy and despicable, his strange accent has the audience especially divided, with some thinking it adds to his off-putting nature while others finding it laughably distracting, to the point Hanks' performance ended up winning a Razzie.
• Broken Base: While one of Baz Luhrmann's thumbprints is having an Anachronistic Soundtrack, the needle drop of Doja Cat's "Vegas", a remix of Elvis' popular hit "Hound Dog", as Elvis treks down Beale Street proved to be an especially divisive usage of music in the film. It's either a brilliant way of showcasing how Elvis' music sounded back then compared to the musical norm at the time as well as subtly giving credit to the black artists who inspired him, or it's an out-of-place and uncomfortably distracting attempt at appealing to modern audiences. It all mostly boils down to whether you like that element of Baz Luhrmann's style...and Doja Cat.
• Ending Fatigue: The movie is almost three hours long, and especially the final Vegas section feels like it's going on forever.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The fact that at the end of the film Elvis dies so suddenly at the young age of 42, after very unhappy last few years of his life, is of course a massive Tearjerker on its own, to put it mildly. But it becomes even more so after his daughter Lisa Marie (herself portrayed in the movie as a girl who loses her father at 9 years old) died in 2023 under similar circumstances (a young-aged, sudden death and an incredibly depressing last part of life because she had recently lost her own son)...
• He Really Can Act: Austin Butler was seen as a surprising choice for the lead role as he'd never played a major role like it before. However, his performance in the film amazed everyone as he nails Elvis' intense physicality, charisma, and stage presence and shows exactly why he was such an electrifying and legendary performer. He even does his own singing in the part, turning in an exceptional recreation that sounds near identical to the king himself and earned the approval of Elvis' ex-wife, daughter, and grandchildren. At the same time, he handles the dramatic scenes offstage extremely well, making Elvis' transition from a kind, idealistic young man who just wants to provide for his family to a bitter, severely depressed superstar and inability to escape Colonel Parker and his eventual decline genuinely heartbreaking to witness. Many critics have called his performance one that deserves to turn him from a supporting role to a major leading man; before the film even released, the acclaim it earned Butler led him to score the role of Feyd-Rautha in the sequel to Dune.
• Love to Hate: Colonel Tom Parker is an utterly vile man whose selfishness, greed, and manipulation destroy Elvis. But Tom Hanks' wonderfully committed performance, absolutely oozing with Snake Oil Salesman charm and false paternal affection, makes him riveting to watch.
• Memetic Mutation: The "He's white" scene, where Colonel Parker finds out that Elvis isn't African-American despite his voice, rapidly became a meme on Twitter.
• Narm Charm: Tom Hanks' ham-tastic performance as Colonel Tom Parker. Yes, he spends the movie chewing the scenery in a strange accent under heavy prosthetics, but it does fit the movie's over-the-top style (and, as commentators online have noted, throughout the movie Elvis is associated with superheroes like Captain Marvel, so it's thematically fitting for Parker to be played as an overblown supervillain).
• Signature Scene: The aforementioned "He's white" scene. Even then, Hanks (as Parker) still puts his natural charm to terrifying use to show the Colonel's manipulative personality.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Of the Captain Marvel comics, befitting the young Elvis' affection for Captain Marvel Jr. in particular. The film draws multiple thematic and narrative parallels, putting Elvis in the place of Billy Batson, as a young man who makes a deal with an enigmatic wizard — Col. Tom Parker — to become a Rock and Roll Superhero. With Las Vegas being pointedly stated to be standing in for the Rock of Eternity.
• The Woobie: Elvis. It's made abundantly clear that all his success and fame hasn't made him happy and he is mercilessly exploited at every step by a predatory monster who has convinced Elvis that he is like a second father to him and stops him from ever really becoming the artist he wants to be. And when he finally does see Parker for the selfish, conniving snake that he is, he is still trapped and unable to break out, eventually ending up a drug-addicted wreck who thinks his whole career has amounted to nothing and dying at a tragically young age. You just want to give the poor guy a hug and take him away from Parker forever.

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