traveling-girl2 If you want to keep admiring the Presley family, then don't watch this movie. Elvis was portrayed as a spineless man who always did what the Colonel said to do. Not the Elvis I envisioned who was very capable and took control of his music, the musicians, and the arrangements of his music. Gladys was portrayed as a clinging, whining, unhappy woman. We never saw her happy or enthusiastic except when she was given her pink Cadillac. However, the acting was superb and, of course, Elvis' music was great.

rooprect Since the dawn of time, or at least since 1592 ("Dr. Faustus" by Marlowe), the tale of a person selling their soul to the Devil in exchange for success has intrigued and thrilled audiences. Whether historically accurate in the case of "Elvis", here we have an interesting spin on that old theme.I'm not an Elvis aficionado, I don't even own any of his albums, but my mom was a big fan. That's what got me interested in this acclaimed miniseries (worthy of its praise), but what hooked me was the subtle Faustian theme which was brilliantly pulled off by Randy Quaid as the mysterious cajun "The Colonel" who is shown to be responsible for Elvis' pyrotechnic rise to stardom as well as, you guessed it, his rude awakening.What made this a unique telling of the classic myth is that The Colonel is not shown to be a fiendish "devil" out to snare Elvis' soul. Instead, The Colonel is almost emotionless, impartial, a stoic mirror of human ambition without any cartoonish fire & brimstone. Near the beginning of the film he asks Elvis what he wants. And by golly he gives Elvis exactly that, no tricks.In that sense, there is no villain in this film. Only human nature. It reminds me of the Steinbeck short story "The Pearl" where a poor family finds a valuable pearl, and what you would expect to be a miracle turns out to be far less.Reading these reviews, I see that fans of Elvis loved it. Jonathan Rhys Meyers did a great job, bore a striking resemblance to The King, and had the lip curl down pat. Elvis is portrayed in a favorable light, despite his flaws, and the music is great. I do think the story could have been a bit grittier, getting more into the drug abuse that eventually killed Elvis. But that was beyond the scope of this family-friendly film which takes up only as far as 1968. There are some strong references to his drug use and accompanying fits of violence. But for the most part, this film centers around his early years and relationship with his family (particularly his kindly mother) and his closest friends. And of course, there's the best part: The Colonel.This is a great film for any aspiring musicians, or ambitious people of all careers. Especially in this day & age when we are hearing about so many tragic celebrities in the news who got everything they wanted except fulfillment, "Elvis" is timeless. The story of ambition and success applies today just as it did 50 years ago. And I'm reminded of a great line from the Irish movie Kisses, "There is no devil. Just people."

ukguy992010 Just as elections are ultimately all about the economy, casting in biopics is ultimately all about looks and physical resemblance, and, no matter how satisfactory the performance may be in various regards, it will, in the end, all hinge on that. Jonathan Rhys-Myers is, without doubt, a very handsome young man. On a scale of one to ten, he'd easily rate 9 - more than enough in any normal real-life situation (club, party, disco) to have the girls flocking around you like wasps around a honey pot (and, let's be honest, far too good-looking to play Henry VIII!).Now here's the problem: the guy that he aims to portray, on the same 1-10 scale, was about a 14 - another league altogether, in which, basically, a 9 just doesn't cut it. Sorry, Jon, to have to be so brutally frank, but you can take comfort from the fact that what you're attempting is nigh-on impossible. Many other handsome Hollywood actors (most notably, Kurt Russell) have tried and failed even more miserably.In fact, there is only one actor I can think of offhand who could convincingly portray Elvis Presley on screen. Sadly, however, he's been unavailable for about 33 years...

rickardlindquist This was a very bad movie .. Jonathan who played Elvis was so boring to watch he had nothing but a face that in some scenes looked like Elvis .. This guy doesn't have any percent of the 100% charisma that The REal Elvis had .. He has no glow in is performance its to much over the top all trough the movie . The last scene If i can Dream is so badly lipped synced and played that i started to laugh i mean common!! Elvis had a little more sex appeal and nerve then this ... Bad bad bad bad CBS Did a Bad bad thing..Has this actor ever lay ed an eye on Elvis performances? i mean it looked as if he had watched the 68 comeback special like two times or something .. And his singing in the Sun Studio is awful its false and bad! bad! So i wonder how could you cast this guy was it only for the poster ? cause it sure looks like it.Rickard Lindquist