‘Elton John: Never Too Late’ review: tender lookback on a legendary career

Elton John has called Never Too Late “the definitive documentary of my career and last ever tour”, which is a tall order for several reasons. First of all, the rock icon’s ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour was a 330-date juggernaut that ran for nearly five years – it could comfortably sustain a film of its own. And second of all, John’s rollicking life story has already been told in 2019’s Rocketman, the best and least sanitised of the recent music biopics.

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On top of this, John published a wonderfully candid memoir packed with A-list celebrity anecdotes barely five years ago. Never Too Late uses the same audio recordings from the interviews John gave to that book’s ghostwriter, music journalist Alexis Petridis; perhaps he wasn’t keen to rehash every last rise and stumble for a second time?

Co-directed by John’s husband David Furnish with R.J. Cutler, whose previous credits include Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, an excellent 2021 documentary about the Gen Z pop queen, Never Too Late offers a solid recap of Elton John’s ’70s imperial phase. According to legend, the plucky Brit’s career really took off when he played LA venue the Troubadour in 1970, so it’s poignant to see him return 50 years later to find it’s really no bigger than a dive bar. 

There are other revealing moments, particularly when John balks at introducing country singer Allison Ponthier as a “queer” musician on his Apple Music radio show. For him, this reclaimed slur still carries the sting of a playground putdown. It’s a chastening reminder that John, whose struggles with his sexuality have been well documented elsewhere, came of age in an era where being gay in England was illegal. 

But Never Too Late doesn’t capture Elton John’s complex personality – a mix of insecurity, impatience, talent, ambition and tremendous generosity – as well as Furnish’s earlier film about him, 1997’s Tantrums and Tiaras. That documentary was scrappier but contained juicier moments. At one point in Tantrums, an exhausted John bitches about having to do “one more fucking interview”, before turning on the charm with a camp one-liner: “I’ve had enough, dear. I don’t know how Mrs Jagger does it.”

Frankly, this film would benefit from a little more Elton sass. It’s not the definitive story of his career, but it does drive home that before he became the grande dame of pop, John was a trailblazer who took superstardom to a new level. His 1975 concerts at LA’s Dodger Stadium were the biggest ever by a solo artist at the time, so this film cleverly builds towards his farewell shows at the venue in November 2022.

Never Too Late also gains pathos from the singer’s recent disclosure that he has lost his eyesight. So if this is a bookend to his incredible performing career, at least it’s a respectful and tender one.

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