Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

mbrindell This film makes an analogy between Elvis Presley's rise in America's consciousness and the rise of corporate domination throughout much (most?) Of the Western world.The filmmaking is excellent; it is well shot and deftly edited. Some of the analogy wanders a bit and doesn't always hit the bullseye; the documentarian definitely has a bias. But then ALL documentaries are biased, because they are ALL produced by people, and ALL people have biases.Most all of the people in the Rolls' backseat are fascinating, even the ones who don't speak. Baldwin comes off as least personable, but there's no denying his prescient insights.A fine---no, excellent---look at America, where it's been, and where it's likely going.Highly recommended for its intelligence and entertainment value (heck, it's got Elvis!).

Joe Stemme Unorthodox documentary not so much "about" Elvis Presley, but about how Elvis affected --and was affected by -- American culture. The gimmick Director Eugene Jarecki employs is that he purchased Elvis' actual Rolls Royce, and then films interviews of a wide variety of folks in that vehicle as it travels across the places that Elvis himself stayed at various points in his life, from his hometown in Tupelo Mississippi to Memphis (although, curiously, Graceland is barely mentioned) and places in between. Even though Jarecki doesn't give us a straightforward biography of Presley, THE KING does a pretty fine job of covering the bases, even if indirectly. The most effective part of the Doc comes early on in a discussion of whether Elvis was a cultural appropriator of black music, culminating in his early crowning as The King Of Rock And Roll. The movie gives a fair-minded balance of pro and con with people like Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore, Emmylou Harris and John Hiatt on one side and rapper Chuck D on the other (he, of the infamous song lyric: "Elvis was a hero to most. But he never meant **** to me you see."). There's also a clip of Big Mama Thornton's blistering original version of "Hound Dog". Jarecki then follows Elvis' travels to NYC and even bigger fame and riches. Then, it's off to the Army and Presley's decline into B movies and Vegas schmaltz. The clips of 'fat Elvis' at the end are truly shocking even all these decades later. Where Jarecki over-reaches is that he isn't satisfied just showing Elvis' effect on the public, but then tries to tie it in with today's culture wars. Shot during the 2016 campaign with such guests as Alec Baldwin, Van Jones and James Carville, Jarecki makes tenuous connections. VERY tenuous connections. No question that Elvis was a seismic force when he hit, but, save for the brief glory period after the '68 Comeback Special, Presley can hardly be looked upon as a central artistic force after the very early 60s. While significant figures can certainly have a long influence, the fact that Elvis passed on in 1977 makes it a stretch to say that he is symbol of our Red-Blue state America today. If anything, Elvis is the very definition of 'Purple' celebrity - equally loved by all demos. Even with this central flaw, there is no question that THE KING is a dense, engaging Documentary. One can't help but feel that they have gone on some sort of journey itself, much like Elvis's well-traveled Rolls itself.

thbiz-07914 The people who endorse music that glorifies hitting women and dealing drugs and killing want you to know how evil americana and elvis are and were..Say goodbye to elvis sub-culture. No longer politically correct according to the establishment that is destroying free market economics and conservative culture..Which I'm not part, but I do make a point to call out agendas based on lies and greed..

ssyuval This film can't decide whether it's an Elvis documentary or social commentary and these two subject don't intermingle very well.The stated objective of the director is to explore how America has gone from Elvis to Donald Trump, and attempts to portrait the rise of fall of the King as an allegory for the demise of the American dream. The framework for relaying this story is a road trip in Elvis' Rolls-Royce Phantom V through parts of the South but also New York City and the West, while juxtaposing interviews with locals, actors, and other social commentators with historic footage of Elvis. As a brief biography of Elvis the film does an okay job, though it basically skims the surface of the known narrative - roughly what would appear on Wikipedia. There are no groundbreaking revelations.But as social commentary, the film fails to deliver upon its promise. All the interviews, documentary footage and narration fail to come to a cohesive thesis about what's changed. General exclamations about "an empire in decline" are repeated several times.