Unfortunately, I did not watch a bootlegged version of Elvis last night. That really was the voice Tom Hanks went with. Wow.
In a lot of ways, Elvis reminds me of To Leslie - an incredible lead performance with very little support. In fact, both movies were plagued with terrible voice performances - the latter being the King of the Cat Ranch himself - Marc Maron. I’ll give a snob like Maron a little leeway since he had to come up with a Texas dialect, but Tom Hanks’ accent choice is unforgivable. He made the suspension of disbelief impossible.
The narrative story wasn’t much better. Even though the runtime clocked in under three hours, the film felt aimless and underdeveloped. I think this lack of direction hampered my ability to connect to the characters.
In the end, Butler’s performance wasn’t enough to save Elvis. The movie is shiny and pretty to look at, but there’s nothing special underneath the surface.