An exhilarating music biopic told with impeccable craft and dramatic flair complete with a star-making performance from Austin Butler in the title role, Elvis see’s director Baz Luhrmann interpret the story of Elvis Presley into a parable of the king and the conman.

There have been many different movie interpretations of Elvis Presley and his story, ranging from the straight-forward biopic treatment of John Carpenter’s Elvis to the horror fiction of Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep. None so far have come close to matching the hip-shaking bombast of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

Luhrmann does a remarkable job in portraying both the mythos and the humanity of Elvis Presley. Shot in Queensland, Australia, Luhrmann sets his Elvis story in the familiar Presley trotting grounds of America’s south in the 1950s, Hollywood in the 1960s, and Las Vegas in the 1970s. Luhrmann’s long-time production and costume designer Catherin Marin (who is also his wife) brings all these period settings to life with vibrant, bristling energy.

The difference with this Elvis biopic is that the main perspective is told by Colonel Tom Parker, the notorious manager of Presley who is loathed by many Elvis fans for his tight-gripped control on the superstar.

Playing Parker in Elvis is Tom Hanks, and to label the performances as “interesting” is the least that can be said. Donning a fat suit and heavy make-up effects, Hanks plays Parker with devious over-the-top aplomb, not to mention a Dutch-accent that is distracting at best. Yet in Luhrmann’s take on the Elvis mythos and all it entails Hanks turn as the cunning Parker works.

Double-crossing in behaviour and slippery in tongue, Parker is the embodiment of a music industry corrupt to the core, often taking advantage of naïve talent who believe their managers have their best interests in mind.  While under Parker’s eye Presley was indeed a global phenomenon, there is no doubt that Parker stifled Presley’s potential to be more, especially as an actor and global touring act.

In the pivotal role of Presley is Austin Butler, who simply becomes Elvis Presley in body and spirit, commanding the screen with a primal raw superstardom that comes across once a generation. Lending his own impressive pipes that would make the King proud, and shaking those hips with fervent energy, Butler is worth the price of admission and then some. Just as vital in Butler’s performance is the quiet moments of personal anguish as this young man from Tupelo, Mississippi, tries to find his place as the king of the world.

Luhrmann successfully melds all facets of the Elvis’ life – the legend, then man, the music - resulting in an emotional and exhilarating music biopic worthy of its subject.