ELVIS ***

 Perhaps the most surprising thing about Baz Luhrmann's film "Elvis" is just how conventional a biopic it is, at least in terms of what it tells us about the man in question. This is The Elvis Story or rather The Elvis and Col. Tom Parker Story as we might have expected it from anyone of a dozen directors with a beginning, a middle and an end very much in that order. But this is also a Baz Luhrmann picture and if you have seen "Moulin Rouge" or "The Great Gatsby" you will know what that means; Luhrmann's "Elvis" is, if nothing else, a musical spectacle and it looks and sounds terrific. It could just as easily have been called 'The Elvis Show' for that is what it is, a show and in the person of Austin Butler, Elvis Presley is its heart and soul.

Of course, for it to work at all it had to have a convincing Elvis, a star who was, at the same time, an unfamiliar face and in Butler that's exactly what it has. He is not only the best Elvis impersonator imaginable but a very fine actor who can get inside the head and under the skin of the man. Butler delivers on all counts and should find himself an Oscar front-runner next year while as the Machiavellian Colonel a certain Tom Hanks could well be on his way to a third Oscar, this time as Best Supporting Actor. Together they easily overcome the deficiencies in the over-egged screenplay.

And then there's the music and the recreations of those concerts and television specials which are pitch perfect from beginning to deeply moving end, (a cut from Butler as Elvis singing 'Unchained Melody' to the real thing is quite breathtaking), and no Elvis fan will find themselves short-changed. Naturally, the first thing you will want to do after seeing this film is watch those television specials again and marvel at just how great an entertainer he was. Failing that, Butler and this film will do very nicely.