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."

donald-mclean This is one of the best Elvis biopics I have ever seen. Its gives a lot of great insight to things that Elvis was going through in his life that others may have not known about or had little knowledge on. I like how the movie starts and ends at the same time, with the middle telling the story how he got there. This film is like a movie and I think should have been released at theaters it is so good. It is better than normal made for TV movies. I've seen this movie so many times I just watch it whenever I get the chance. Anybody that has even a small interest in knowing about Elvis should buy this today, even if you're a longtime fan you'll enjoy it too. Jonathan Rhys Meyers did a better job than a lot of people give him credit for and the other characters were almost spot on. Great MOVIE! 10 out of 10!

dbdumonteil ...why...??? well you know Elvis's magnificent song (my favorite of his) which superbly closes the film.Instead of showing Elvis' years of decrepitude,the film avoids the major pitfall of the biopics:dwelling on the sordid side of life.Not that this "Elvis" passes over in silence the warts 'n all side .Colonel Parker provides the movie with a true villain;he made Elvis but he destroyed him.Take Elvis's movies career :the singer did know what was good (Siegel's "Flaming Star" ) and bad (90% of the rest). He wanted the part of Tony in "West Side Story" and I'm sure he would have been quite good ,at least he could sing ,whilst Richard Beymer could not .The first part is the rise to fame till Elvis's drafted :Camryn Mannheim,an actress I did not know reminds me of Kathy Bates ,as Gladys Presley -Like John Lennon,Elvis's mother's death was probably the worst thing that happened to him- shines ,and along with Jonathan Rhys Meyers ,who gives an exciting performance and Robert Patrick ,the father at the beck and call of Parker ,they form a credible Presley family. Sam Philips represents music for the art's sake whereas Parker is only in it for the money.Rhys Meyers carries the second part almost singlehandedly.Priscilla,his femme-infant,Ann Margret ,the duds ,the British invasions (Beatles and Stones ,singers Elvis hated ,though he covered the former group's "Something" ),and the longing for something else (He was always reading strange books)which the finale" If I can dream" perfectly captures.Parker's character is probably caricatured ,but it does not spoil the interest."Elvis" is a made-for-TV biopic to recommend.

blanche-2 It was wonderful to hear Elvis' actual voice and music coming out of the mouth of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Frankly, I could have used even more of Presley's magnificent voice throughout.One of the previous posters mentioned that Marty Lacker commented on this film. I was in touch with Marty during my time on the Elvis message board and always enjoyed his comments. I regret that I couldn't find his comments on the film here. I don't imagine he liked it much. There was only one Elvis, and while you may be able to approximate him, you will never find anyone who will ultimately satisfy as Elvis. Kurt Russell probably came the closest, but I haven't seen everyone.All that being said, I enjoyed Part I of this miniseries more than Part II, and I did like Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, especially in Part I. I read some of the posts which mentioned he did not have Elvis' stature. Elvis Presley was one of the most gorgeous men who ever lived. He had it ALL. And that includes height. If you're asking to see an Elvis clone portraying Elvis, if it were possible, Elvis wouldn't have been the unique individual he was. The role of Elvis in this bio did not call for an Elvis impersonator, it called for an actor, and Rhys-Meyers is definitely that.The purpose of this film, and the purpose of the Elvis by the Presleys documentary, was to introduce Presley to a new audience. For this they chose a handsome, up-and-coming actor, in order to bring in the youth market. He's Irish. He played a man he didn't know personally and a man he didn't know very much about. He also had to play the script he was given. With those caveats, he was excellent, and, having seen Presley in some of the performances recreated in this film, he had obviously studied Elvis' movements.Though the miniseries captured many of the details we know of Elvis' story, in the end, it didn't capture Elvis himself - and may I say AGAIN, if that were an easy or even POSSIBLE thing to do, well, Elvis wouldn't be the legend he is today. The script I do not believe demonstrated Elvis' tremendous charm and charisma, nor his sense of humor. That was a problem in the script. It's very possible that given the opportunity Rhys-Meyers would have been up to the task.What the script did show is the conflict between Colonel Parker, well played by Randy Quaid, and Presley, giving us a hint of what was a very complicated relationship. Parker was about money; Elvis was about creativity. But it was more than that - Parker had absolutely no understanding of Elvis the artist, and in a sense, he dismissed that side of him. Parker did a great many good things for Elvis but in the end, he held him back tremendously. I knew that Elvis wanted to do the remake of A Star is Born, but I had not known (and I assume it's true) that Elvis wanted to do West Side Story. Since Tony is usually played by a very romantic type whom one cannot believe is affiliated with a gang, Presley would have been inspired casting. Not making better movies is one of the great tragedies of his career, along with never touring the world. I really have no use for Colonel Parker for a variety of reasons, which I won't go into here. And it wasn't all the Colonel - some of the problems had to do with Elvis' inability to let go.The film ends in a strange place - the '68 Comeback Special, and it is there the failing of Rhys-Meyers' physical appearance as Elvis really shows up. Elvis was beyond gorgeous on that special, and Rhys-Meyers just did not demonstrate those shocking good looks. And why end it there? Elvis became a smash hit in Vegas, and he had several successful years on tour before his lifestyle caught up with him.With the exception of Rhys-Meyers, Quaid, and Camryn Manheim as Gladys, there doesn't seem to have been much attention paid to the casting. Rose McGowan did not approximate the luscious Ann-Margret, and Antonia Bernath was not Priscilla.However, I think the miniseries did its job. We got to hear that glorious voice and see something of one of the most fascinating rags to riches story ever told. If the man was missing, I can't blame anyone but the man himself. He was one of a kind.