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nicholls_les Jonathan Rhys Meyers is a passable Elvis although I think he could have put on just a little weight which would have made him look even more like him. Elvis's face was never THAT skinny even when he was very young.However having said that it is a good series that shows a lot of the early years when Elvis was starting out to become the major star he was. There were elements of his life that were left out but I suppose you can never cover everything.Supporting cast are all reasonably good and the pace, direction and acting makes this a pretty good series.

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."

bectoria2004 I've just watched the first half of this on DVD and can't believe I've waited so long to see it! I've never been too bothered about Elvis - he died 6 years before I was born - but this fascinated me from the first 5 minutes. I'm a fan of Johnny Rhys-Meyers anyway and this is by far the best thing I've seen him in.I bought the DVD as a Christmas present for an Elvis fan but I think I might have to get another copy for myself now, and borrow some of her other movies about/starring Elvis too.I understand comments about the lip-syncing, but if Johnny can't pin down the accent while singing (he's a great singer in his own right) then rather that have him do an injustice. I'd like to have heard Elvis try and sing in a Cork accent ;) I think that Johnny, plus the actress playing Mrs Presley and the actor as Colonel Parker have all done anastounding job here. The awards they won for it are well deserved. I can't wait to get home tonight and watch the second half.

Robert W. I am still to this day surprised we haven't seen a multi million dollar Oliver Stonesque biopic of The King of Rock and Roll. He still to this day is one of the most popular historical figures of all time and his life is still masked in much mystery and such a great story. Nonetheless TV director and writer James Steven Sadwith does his utmost in this better than average Television film."Elvis" gives us a look at The King just prior to his fame, and his reshaping of music history. The film really focus's in on his personality, loves, family, money, career, fears and his love of music. The film touches on some of his bigger moments, such as his film career which he desperately wanted and his relationship with the man who helped him get where he was, The Colonel. Elvis continues on through Elvis joining the army and then his triumphant rise back to fame after getting out.Jonathan Rhys-Meyers does a great job as Elvis. There are probably more impersonators for this character than anyone else in the world so it's not a tough gig but it's tough to pull off a really good character performance of Elvis and Rhys-Meyers is just amazing. The film really does focus in on his own personal demons and life and feelings so it really magnifies his performance but he pulls it off with the exception of one MAJOR thing in my opinion...the singing. I don't blame him in this case because his lip syncing is dead on...but the music itself is so off balance, often sounding scratchy and old and NOT live the way it is supposed to be. It never seems believable and that's a major fault for the whole film. The rest of the cast is also remarkable in their roles. One of the best in the film is Camryn Manheim as Gladys Presley. She is the most emotional of the characters and so believable and heartfelt, she MUST get an Emmy for this role. Her relationship with Elvis is so clearly created that it's touching and important to everything. Their charisma together is wonderful. Randy Quaid who is lacking a good performance since...well a LONNNNNG time does a great job as the greedy, and powerful 'Colonel' Tom Parker. He is riveting!! The only second downside to this film is it doesn't quite take it far enough...it has you just riveted to your seat ready to go on with these characters till the end but they chose to end the film with Elvis' comeback special which really leaves out so much of Elvis and his downward spiral. Nonetheless no Elvis fan will be disappointed and it's worth seeing absolutely!! It's just not as good as it could have been. 8/10