Towards the end of RJ Cutler and David Furnish's documentary Elton John: It's Never Too Late, John says, “It took me 43 years to learn to act like a human being and not like a rock star.”
But the film, which premiered in the gala section of the Toronto International Film Festival, is far more interested in the rock star part of John’s life than the human one. Look, it makes sense; the glittering glamour of superstardom is inherently more appealing than the day-to-day monotony of trying to survive. Still, with the access this doc has — Furnish is, after all, John’s husband — it feels like a missed opportunity.
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At the outset, “Never Too Late” sets up an intriguing structure. It will document John as he prepares for the final stop of his farewell tour: Dodger Stadium, the site of his incredibly famous 1975 performance, which is both triumphant and emotionally charged for the musician, given how inextricably linked it is to his suicide attempt.
And yet the contemporary material is largely overlooked. Instead, Never Too Late is a competent but largely traditional look at John that focuses on the most documented part of his life: his astronomical rise in the first half of the 1970s. With audio culled from an interview with journalist Alex Petridis, originally recorded while John was working on his memoir, the “Rocket Man” singer takes audiences through his difficult childhood, his collaboration with Bernie Taupin, his brushes with fame, his complicated relationship with manager and lover John Reid, his cocaine addiction, and more. The portion of the film focused on his career essentially ends in 1976 with a Rolling Stone cover story in which he announced he was bisexual, before jumping ahead to explain how he got sober in 1990.
As John narrates, Cutler and Furnish pepper his stories with plenty of archival imagery, as well as some animation that evokes the style of the era. Think: Yellow Submarine. (That said, one animated sequence in which John tries cocaine for the first time does sound strikingly like Walk Hard.) There are some asides in the story that feel particularly intimate and interesting, including a sequence in which John discusses his friendship with John Lennon. Mostly, though, it just sounds like a story he’s told many times before.
Meanwhile, footage shot during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert tour offers only tiny glimpses into the world-famous artist’s contemporary life. The moments that reveal are fleeting. While hosting his Rocket Hour radio show on Apple Music, for example, he was taken aback when his script instructed him to introduce country singer Allison Pontier as a “queer” artist. Furnish explains that it’s now an accepted term, not one laced with hostility, as John might read it. It’s a glimpse into the generational divide that the LGBTQ+ elder statesman feels, but it’s never questioned. In fact, John never seems too keen to analyze his place in the gay pantheon.
Elsewhere in the new footage, we see John video chatting with his two young sons and rehearsing his collaboration with Dua Lipa. Still, you can’t help but feel like there’s so much left on the cutting room floor that could have been more intriguing. We never really see him interact with the band, or see the physical toll touring can take on him. And despite Furnish being behind the camera, their love story and family life are only alluded to indirectly.
The performance footage is obviously effective because, well, it's Elton John's performance footage. It's worth noting, though, that you can already stream Elton John: Farewell to Dodger Stadium in its entirety on Disney+, where It's Never Too Late will eventually arrive, too.
The countdown to the final performance at Dodger Stadium feels like something of a misdirection, because there’s never any real tension that should be tied to that date. There’s a leisurely ease to what we see that feels out of tune with the pressure the film itself places on that date, and also feels out of tune with the emotional rollercoaster of John’s early life. It comes with a sense of relief, almost. Maybe that’s the point: John, now a sober family man, is more zen than he’s ever been. And yet, it also feels somehow off-kilter, as if this big moment is just another day at the office for him, and all the chaos has simply been pushed into the past.
Elton John’s story has been well told, most recently in the musical biopic Rocketman, starring Taron Egerton. Never Too Late is never particularly revealing to anyone who knows John, but there’s a comfort when he talks about his experiences. You just want it to be deeper. With someone as close to him as Furnish taking the director’s credit, there might be a real chance to see the human side of John, the man he became when he says he left rock stardom behind.
Rating: B-
Elton John: Never Too Late had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and will open in limited theatrical release on November 15 and on Disney+ on December 13.
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