Rocketman is, in some ways, a sad reminder that even in its most supposedly fantastic imaginings, Hollywood fantasies can still be so straight.

| Apr 6, 2022

It's Taron Egerton as Elton John who carries and sells the film -- often backwards and in platform heels. Wild as it may sound to approach such a mercurial and marvelous character with beautiful restraint, Egerton's performance is meticulously calibrated.

| Feb 3, 2020

Rocketman ramps the camp up to 11, throws on some sequinned spectacles, and sparks fireworks of pure joy in glitzy song-and-dance routines.

| Oct 2, 2019

Rocketman isn't a sanitised peek-a-boo of someone's life, barely teasing at the surface of a complex creative genius. Rocketman gives you the warts and all version, and it's not going to pink-wash John's sexuality.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 21, 2019

Really, on the basis of "Rocketman," you'd think Elton John never had a moment of fun.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jun 12, 2019

Like the Elton John it presents, it's about forgiveness. Love is love is love. Watching so many plume-festooned costumes take wing, you're inclined to believe that hope really is the thing with feathers.

| Jun 7, 2019

It's hard to pinpoint any real flaws in this movie...the movie is enlivened by its own approach.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 7, 2019

"Rocketman" is far from a drama of introspection-and, unfortunately, Egerton's performance, as directed by Fletcher, doesn't add to the protagonist's inner life.

| Jun 7, 2019

[It's] an unexpected performance by a relatively untried actor in the central role anchors Rocketman.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 6, 2019

Director Dexter Fletcher's energetically emotional musical is fantastically entertaining.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 6, 2019

Taron Egerton, his square jaw notwithstanding, throws body and soul into this origin story about the iconic British singer-performer.

| Jun 5, 2019

Rocketman is a cannily honed machine, absolutely sure of its purpose, so you rather feel you've been sold a complete deluxe package... at times, consumer satisfaction is taken care of a little too aggressively for you to really feel involved.

| Jun 5, 2019

Rocketman has unusual dramatic heft for a jukebox musical, but that's a big curve on which to grade - the characters are still skin-deep.

| Jun 1, 2019

Rocketman never quite finds the wild momentum its characters seem to chase around in all those musical numbers.

| May 31, 2019

There is nothing timid about the storytelling. Which is exactly how it should be, because this is the life of an extraordinary singer and showman.

| May 31, 2019

Fletcher is one of the few directors working today who really knows how to stage this sort of lavish musical number for the camera.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2019

The biopic about gay rock icon Elton John is proudly queer, packed with spectacle, and-though streaked with trauma and tragedy-radiant with joy.

| May 31, 2019

The pop icon is vividly brought to life in this kaleidoscopic biopic.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 31, 2019

If you need somebody to recount the rise of a British rock god from pallid suburbia to the baroque extremes of fame, and to create a stir without causing too much of a fuss, Fletcher is your man.

| May 31, 2019

In real life, Elton John is not only a great songwriter and showman; he is a survivor. But the celebratory final moments of Rocketman can't compensate for the often-dreary narrative that leads up to them

| May 31, 2019