I walked out of Rocketman after having greatly enjoyed it. I got to see it a few weeks before it opened and there wasn't too much conversation flowing at the time about it for obvious reasons. I've had a few weeks to let it all digest after initially walking out thinking to myself I really enjoyed it "but"...Once I realized that I was directly comparing it to the experience of Bohemian Rhapsody, which I absolutely loved, my appreciation for Rocketman has increased.
They are technically both biopics but in some ways the films couldn't be more opposite. Bohemian Rhapsody told the story of Freddie Mercury (and Queen) choosing to do so in a way that tried to reflect the events with some sense of historical and chronological accuracy in terms of events. The music heard is actually Queen's performances of it. If I am recalling correctly the music appears in chronological order that it was originally release in reference to the band's historical storyline.
Freddie was obviously not available to contribute or verify accuracy of portrayals but other members of the band were. There is certainly a sense that at least some of the events have been cleansed, some probably due to keeping the flow of the film on track and some probably due to contributions of those members that are still available influencing the story to make events more positively represent their personal interests. Ultimately, I walked out of the theater on a pretty good high after witnessing a pretty epic cinematic representation of Queen, their music and some interesting backstories about them regardless of whether they might have been fictionalized or embellished for theatrical reasons.
Rocketman feels to me like someone turned on the Baz Luhrman machine (Moulin Rouge, Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet) and configured it to use only Elton John songs for the soundtrack and then ran Elton's life through it. Elton John WAS involved with the creation of the movie and has made very specific and adamant demands insisting on keeping in the bugs and warts aspects of his life making sure that the film didn't overly cleanse his image which is very much adverse to what others involved in the making of the film would have chosen to do.
The music heard is comprised of reinterpretations of Elton's songs sung by various members of the film's cast. The overall story follows Elton's life chronologically but the music does not appear in the order it was released. Compared to what I had originally anticipated, which was an Elton John version of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, it certainly was not. Having said that, I enjoyed it thoroughly as well! I learned a lot of things about Elton I might otherwise not have known (and will continue to fact check as opportunities and resources appear). Ironically, and I certainly don't know this for a fact, but after factoring in the cleansing and fictional liberties that will happen with pretty much all movies based on actual persons and events , I actually feel like I got a better sense of who Elton John is/was from watching the more sensationalized presentation versus Bohemian Rhapsody, where I also learned a lot about Freddie and the members of Queen but, after time to reflect, felt like that movie holds back on the dark and gritty but real moments in comparison. At the end of the day though, for me, both movies are great!