Since his debut album, Empty Sky, in 1969, Sir Elton John has sold over three hundred million albums worldwide. His immense discography with thirty-two studio albums and plenty of live, compilation, and soundtrack records have put him upon the title of one of the biggest rockstars of his generation. In 2018, Elton John announced he would retire from touring after almost fifty years of live concerts around the globe. In September of that year, he began the Farewell Yellow Brick Road World Tour. The tour would end in 2023 in Stockholm with his last live concert ever, putting a final remark on one of the most legendary musical careers ever. Alongside the 330 concerts, he would perform for five years. It is crucial to mention the one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The tour likewise brought ample recording and documentation of his long trajectory.
In this context, directors R.J. Cutler and David Furnish analyze Elton’s early career until his last show in the United States, at the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Besides being the last show for him in the country where he became a global icon, Dodgers Stadium also has a crucial connection to him. In 1975, he performed to a massive crowd of a hundred and ten thousand people there. The show is a canonical event in his career and music, not only for the magnitude of the performance but it is widely referred to for its iconic outfit – a shiny Dodgers uniform with shiny stones in all set pieces. The film is interested in presenting Elton’s early years when he was still Reginald and understanding the motivations that would take him to the stage in 1975. In this sense, it has a timely cut before 1969 with his first album to 1975. Also, it briefly approaches his later life with overcoming addiction, his marriage with David Furnish, and the birth of their children.
As an archival documentary, it relies on the conversation with Alexis Petridis, a music critic for The Guardian and the ghostwriter for the John’s 2019 Autobiography, Me. Through over forty hours of recorded conversation between the journalist and the singer, the directors use the six years when John skyrocketed to fame to explain his magnitude in the 1970s Rock scenario. They approach the fact he released eleven albums from 1970 to 1975, and seven peaked at number #1 in the U.S charts. He was starting to reach the summit of an artist’s commercial success, and the film analyzes his relationship with the producer John Reid. A Motown promoter who would help Elton’s career reach the top but would be a toxic and aggressive partner. Furthermore, the film navigates between the outcomes of his understanding of his sexuality in a highly homophobic society and how drugs, mainly cocaine, would ease his pain.
Elton John: Never Too Late tries to balance the past with the present, shifting from the conversations with Petridis to the reality of the tour, specifically the Dodgers stadium concert. The film fails to provide an introspective look into his life and career. It does not go beyond what the 2019 biopic Rocketman did, which provides a magnificent performance by Taron Edgerton, and it portrays the absurdity of Elton’s life less seriously. Elton John: Never Too Late tries to honor his career and life by not unfolding some of his problematic and controversial moments. Likewise, it does not thrive in using the rich archive it has. Elton is among the most celebrated artists and has a rich collection of iconic imagery, clothing, and recordings. Yet, it is a limited recollection of moments, pictures, and narratives of his tremendous career.
Similarly, the immersion in his present life is too timid to engage more energy or emotions in the film. The manner it approaches retirement feels far from the viewer. He spotlights younger and LGBTQIA+ artists in his Apple Radio program, Rocket Hour, which is heartening to observe. However, it lacks more information and footage to bring a grander context to the following chapters of his life. It feels like an incomplete work. Of course, Elton still has plenty to live with his children and husband, but the film is way too polished to provide any other conclusion about his retirement to the viewer. And the fact that one of the co-directors is his husband adds to the lack of more frontal discussions on his life. There are some interesting anecdotes about his relationship with John Lennon and how he was responsible for his comeback with Yoko Ono. But it is just a tiny detail in a canvas of blankness.
Elton John: Never Too Late does not use well the enormity of the archive it has about one of the world’s biggest rockstars. It is too polished and formulaic, not bringing enough room to present new passages to the viewer.
Elton John: Never Too Late is now streaming on Disney+.
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