Continuing the recent trend of hit music movies that began with last year’s A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody is the upcoming Rocketman. Up to this point we’ve seen a teaser trailer and a featurette, but today brings the release of the full trailer for the film. Take a look below to see the trailer for Rocketman, complete with all the music, costumes and Elton you could hope for.
This movie looks like a ton of fun and appears to have that same kind of quality that brought audiences the world over into theaters for Bohemian Rhapsody. Judging by this trailer, Rocketman is going to be one heck of a theatrical experience; a candy-colored adventure of sight and sound anchored by Taron Egerton’s performance as Elton John.
The trailer shows us Elton John throughout the phases of his career, from the demure Reginald Dwight through his transformation into the flamboyant Elton John, who became a global music icon. Taron Egerton looks great in the role from what we see in the trailer and his performance becomes even more anticipated with the knowledge that his voice is actually the one singing in the film.
A big part of what is interesting about Rocketman is how it is attempting to blend a dramatic music biopic with an actual musical where people break into song and dance. The psychedelic fantasy quality with the dreamlike sequences and all the singing and dancing make this trailer feel like Bohemian Rhapsody meets Mary Poppins Returns.
It’s a compelling approach and a neat way to distinguish this from other music biopics. It definitely also sets Rocketman up to be a hit at the box office.
However, alongside those fun fantasy elements and the musical numbers, we also see in this trailer that Rocketman will be tackling the dramatic parts of Elton John’s life as you would hope for from any biopic. We see in the trailer references to Elton John’s sexuality as well mentions of drug use. So it will be very interesting to see how the film blends those disparate elements and what kind of tonal balance it strikes.
Bohemian Rhapsody was criticized for being a safe crowd-pleaser (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), omitting certain things about Freddie Mercury’s life and glossing over his sexuality. And while Rocketman appears in many ways to be cut from the same cloth as that crowd-pleaser, Taron Egerton has said that the film doesn’t hold anything back and there are hints in this trailer to that effect. Can this film be both a crowd-pleasing hit and an honest look at the life of a rockstar? We’ll see.
Rocketman blasts into theaters on May 31. Check out our 2019 release schedule to see all the biggest movies headed to theaters this year and for all the latest trailers and movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
