Like The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, Elton John is prolific enough to have a documentary a year. Never Too Late is the next up. A career on stage which has now come to an end. This is a choice. Elton has decided to leave the stage before it leaves him. But this is not just a reflective heartbreaker, this is a deep dive into a period of history where Elton was not just prolific, but on top of the charts, and the world. Seven number-one albums and eleven releases during this time are, frankly, terrifying. Reflection is a dumping ground for regret and while Elton John: Never Too Late is about what you would expect for a man learning from his mistakes, preparing to play Dodger Stadium fifty years on from his first stadium shows there. Retirement and reflection are immediate bedfellows.
But this winding down brings with it a set of new problems. A sense of never wanting to give up the stage, a chance to bring it all back to where he hit a career peak but a personal low. It feels almost inevitable. Elton John: Never Too Late has R. J. Cutler and David Furnish to thank for their more eye-opening moments, however. Elton revealing he enjoys the tour but is ready to pack his bags for that final time, to move on from the stage, is not surprising but still feels emotionally charmed. Back and forth between the rough early years, the rough midpoint and the heartbreaking latter stages is perhaps a pessimistic view of what Elton shares here. Cutler’s style feels choppy. More a montage of archival footage than using it with anything in mind. Interactions with the everyday fan, the pre-show moments, is a bit unfortunate. A curmudgeonly old man who shouts at the sound team is a hard image to shake off.
No matter the history there is within, Elton John: Never Too Late feels a bit flat. Bernie Taupin has paid his dues. The early and late periods of a career with plenty of interest and drama are right there for the taking. But Elton is not exactly the ideal narrator for these moments and though he adds the personal flourishes, the headlines Cutler and Furnish are looking for, there is little more to Elton John: Never Too Late. Notes of interest in the classical aspects of his upbringing with music can be found but little else. Moments detailing his friendship with John Lennon, the mountains of cocaine and the party lifestyle with Andy Warhol-adjacent scrapes overtake any of the musical inspirations which come through. How duets with the former Beatles member came to be are moments of interest but they are overtaken by the dreamy aspects of collaborating with famed musicians.
What people, even Elton, may forget, is how sophisticated his stage presence has always been. That is the subtle brilliance of Elton John: Never Too Late has to it. Though it does not show it enough, it does get to grips with what touring does to an artist, and how taxing it can be. Elton John: Never Too Late picks and chooses some truly strange moments to fixate on. Bits and pieces which have not appeared in many other rambles through life on stage and at home. Where it may have a decent momentum to it, pulling as much information as it can out of those oddities and strange dynamics between contemporary musicians, the documentary never finds a suitable pace. There is never a moment where Elton provides some reliable tone of narration or wonderful new detail. It is a simple series of confirmations or rejections of the generally accepted narrative. Cutler gets obsessed with a Lennon and Elton performance. At least he has the audio for it.
