Elvis: The Mini-Series (2005)

Bought for Rhys-Meyers, stayed for Elvis.

I am not the world's biggest Elvis fan. I bought this DVD because I fancied Jonathan Rhys-Meyers after seeing him in Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition), The Tudors - The Complete First Season, and Match Point. I had seen a promo for it on TV but had missed it when it was on. I am now an Elvis fan!

The reason why this adaptation works so well is that Rhys-Meyers is able to perfectly capture Elvis' magnetism and earthy charm in his portrayal of the King. He has the nervous energy that's just right and despite his Irish background, a PERFECT accent.

Rather than chronicling the downfall we all know too well, the image of Elvis in Vegas in those awful white jumpsuits,it starts off with an Elvis hungry to be heard and ends with his 1968 comeback special. The screenplay shows just enough criticism so as to be truthful but not enough to detract from the legend.

Also an added bonus is that it's Elvis' actual singing voice that's used rather than Rhys-Myers', who has a pleasant enough voice (see Velvet Goldmine) but can't touch the most iconic voice in American history.

All in all, immensely enjoyable and a worthwhile purchase July 9, 2008

The King is Alive!

I've been impressed with the range and breadth of work Jonathan Rhys Meyers has accumulated in such a short timeframe. The Elvis miniseries is a fantastic effort by (let's not forget) an Irish actor playing an American icon. A daunting task for anyone.

Camryn Manheim does a solid job as Mrs. Gladys Presley (although she's a bit weepy and melodramatic at times for belief), but Robert Patrick (of "The X-Files" fame) is fantastic as patriarch Vernon Presley. You can feel his embarrassment and shame over not being able to adequately provide for his family in the '50s shots of the Presley family.

JRM steals the show and has all of the panache of the young Elvis. I only wish that the producers would've let Rhys Meyers sing more material-he has a great vocal quality. Plus, it looked odd for him to lip-synch with a voice as distinct as Elvis' was and is.

My main complaint was the actresses that portrayed Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Ann-Margaret (Antonia Bernath and Rose McGowan). Bernath just felt WRONG as Priscilla and McGowan was such a ham and overacted the part of Ann-Margaret, that none of the sex kitten so attached to the real Ann-Margaret came through.

Overall, a 4-star effort because of the hard-working blue suede shoes of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He's a tour de force.
June 24, 2008

Fifties Elvis Done Well, Sixties Elvis Oversimplified

I wanted so much to love this miniseries about Elvis, since most other films of his life have been disappointing. And I expected to love this version, since I had heard good things about it, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers won the Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of The King. Indeed, the first half goes very well. Meyers does an excellent job of portraying 1950s Elvis, both in terms of capturing his personality as well as in re-creating his stage performances. There is a palpable sense of excitement in Elvis's rise to fame on the cutting edge of rock-and-roll, and a good balance of narrative and music.

But for me the second half of the film breaks down. Instead of trying to accurately describe Elvis's life as it really was in the 1960s, the producers adopted the theme that his life was falling apart in the face of doing increasingly bad movies, then they twisted everything to fit into that theme. For instance, Elvis's decision to record the romantic ballad "It's Now or Never" when he returned from the Army is suggested to be part of the decline, but in my opinion Elvis was a better singer for being able to sing many styles so well, and the terrific Elvis Is Back! album that is shown on screen during the discussion of "It's Now Or Never" is in fact an eclectic mix of styles. Also, Elvis's heavy drug use that is shown is actually much more a description of Elvis's life in the 1970s. And the Sixties Elvis is depicted as being constantly irritable, which I have never read was really the case. I may be mistaken, but I believe that several of the scenes and conversations in this film did not actually happen, but were fabricated to make some point. And Meyers does not do nearly as good a job in portraying the Sixties Elvis. As, the re-created scenes from the 1968 TV "Comeback" special are disappointing compared to the Fifties re-creations. There also is much less music in the second half, and no scenes from the movies are shown. In reality, Elvis's "comeback" actually began with his excellent album of religious songs, How Great Thou Art, and other good studio recordings he did in 1966-68 (check the CD Tomorrow Is a Long Time, but this fact is ignored. I can appreciate that the producers were trying to make a point in a very limited amount of time, but that's no excuse to totally oversimplify reality to fit into one theme. However, I do think the second half of this film is very accurate in describing the decline of Elvis's movie career in the Sixties as being mostly the fault of Elvis's manager, Tom Parker, who cared much more about money than about quality.

However, even considering these failings, ELVIS: THE MINISERIES overall is fairly good. As I said, the first half is terrific. I applaude the decision to use Elvis's actual song recordings, rather than the usual practice of hiring an imitator. And overall the performances are good, especially Randy Quaid as the oily and self-serving Tom Parker. This film is OK for Elvis fans to see, but I would not recommend it to those who want to learn about Elvis. Instead, read the excellent biographies Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley by Jerry Schilling or the two volume bio Last Train to Memphis Careless Love by Peter Guralnick. Of course, those books take a lot longer to read than the 3 hours it takes to watch this miniseries! December 30, 2007

Is A Movie With A Message

The movie was good, the acting too, Jonathan Rhys Myers is a good actor, he is a deep actor, I had followed his career and to me he was actually good as Elvis, of course nobody could ever be Elvis because he was unique, he would never be second to any one but I should say that this movie does have a big message. Sometimes we think our dreams are going to make us happy and at the end is not what you expected it to be. I think Colonel Parker runned his professional life, it seemed Elvis wanted to quit but he didn't have the strengh to do it, he didn't know how to handle his financial matters so there Colonel Parker took over, Elvis did many things he didn't want to do but he did them so good that he could not be replaced by any other singer. I think it is really odd that he never tour outside the U.S. and he is world famouse, I think he would be impressed if he was alive to see how far his music has gone and how he still the King of Rock and Roll. The movie have a clear message, "don't let other people who are ambitious ruined your life, Elvis would it have been alive today if he had centered more on his personal life and less on his career and making money but still he is the GREATEST...

Ana October 1, 2007

Where's Priscilla and Ann?

This is a fine mini series about the King. The cast members were very good except for Priscilla and Ann-Margret. I didn't think they resembled the true characters in ANY way! Neither were pretty nor could they act. Don't let that stop you - it's an engrossing movie. September 21, 2007

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