Elvis: The Miniseries (2005)

Elvis: The Miniseries was produced by Starz and aired in May 2005. The miniseries primarily stars Johnathan Rhys Meyers and Randy Quaid. These two get the most air time as Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker, respectively. There are quite a few other recognizable faces who make appearances throughout this three hour long miniseries. It is directed by James Steven Sadwith, who I doubt anyone has ever heard of.

The plot, I'm sure, is fairly obvious. The miniseries follows the life of the legend Elvis Presley and his career. From his humble beginnings, to his stardom, to his gradual undoing. Sounds really cliche' doesn't it? For the most part, this miniseries is the typical musical artist/band formula. From nothing, to superstar, to druggie, to insanity. The only part of the formula that this miniseries doesn't follow is the demise, save for a short epilogue at the end. We never see the true demise that Elvis experienced in his life, as the miniseries ends after the 1968 Comeback Special and we never see Elvis' fall from grace. In regards to the plot, Elvis: The Miniseries has it's ups and downs. Some parts seem cliche', others are fun to watch. For example, I felt that the last 30 minutes of the production were absolutely wonderful and really lifted the first two and a half hours. Now I'll move on to the acting...

Since he plays the most important role, I'll start with Johnathan Rhys Myers. Most people I've talked to seem to really dislike this guy, but I honestly haven't seen him in anything else but this production. As with the plot, JRM is hit and miss. I felt that in the "on stage" scenes, he really captured Elvis and his stage presence. His delivery of dialogue and interaction with other actors is an entirely differently story. Also, I wish they would have gotten someone who could sing for this part, because it really jars the viewer out of the mood when the performance is supposed to be live and the voice coming out of JRM is the studio recording. The few times Myers actually tries to sing...well, maybe it was alright to use studio recordings. Also, if you watch this, tell me if you think Myers looks like Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, because sometimes I felt that the resemblance was uncanny. Overall, Myers was decent, but I feel that someone else could have done a much better job. Randy Quaid, on the other hand, was very good. His portrayal of Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was fantastic and was one of the saving graces of the production.

As a huge Elvis fan, my views on this miniseries may be a bit skewed. I've been an Elvis fan since the tender age of 12 and from everything I've read, seen, or heard about Elvis, this miniseries is very accurate. There is one other thing I liked about the production that I would like to share. First of all, the music selected for the miniseries is fantastic. A lot of it are songs that the casual Elvis listener has never heard of and I liked that. Instead of playing songs like "Viva Las Vegas", "Jailhouse Rock", and "Blue Christmas", the miniseries plays better songs such as, "If I Can Dream", "My Happiness", and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The song selection has gotten me back into Elvis in a very big way and I liked it for that specific reason. If you are a casual Elvis fan, a big Elvis fan, or have only heard "Hound Dog", then I think you should try to check out the documentary This is Elvis and then you might want to check this miniseries out.

A little bit cliche', some pretty good acting, an incredible legend, but a very flawed production.

6/10