It’s deeply difficult for any onscreen biography of a modern musician to break out of the well-worn mold of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” and while the Elton John biopic “Rocketman” likewise fails to achieve escape velocity from this template, it earns considerable credit for playing what would otherwise be the same old beats, in a novel new way.

In retrospect, using Elton John’s own songs as the basis for a jukebox musical about the events of his life is so obvious that it’s actually inspired and all the musical sequences live up to the opulent artistry that Elton John has made standard over the decades.

But the best asset this film has is Welsh actor Taron Egerton as Elton John. He capturing not just the unconventional look and sound of the man, but also his spirit, just as well as any actor playing a rock-and-roller since Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors.”

In the publicity for this film, Elton John noted that he’s not led “a PG-13 life,” so this film earns its R rating through plenty of sex scenes and depictions of the drug abuse that led to Elton John’s near-fatal real-life overdose.

I expected all this and more, and there’s a fun “bad candy” aspect to seeing those toxic excesses portrayed with such lavish music video flair, but where “Rocketman” surprised me was in its understated and affecting depiction of the deep (and platonic) love between Elton John and his faithful songwriter, Bernie Taupin, played empathetically by Jamie Bell.

Although there is a one-sided attraction there at first, Egerton and Bell really sell Elton John and Bernie Taupin as self-proclaimed spiritual “brothers,” to the point that Bell barely needs any words to convey how much his heart is breaking to see his best friend destroying himself.

And yes, while this film is produced by Elton John, it’s very much up-front about how much harm he did to himself over the years, even during what appeared to concert audiences to be some of his most garishly upbeat peaks.

As with “The Doors,” I do wish “Rocketman” could have devoted a greater percentage of its running time to exploring the creative process of its starring musician, rather than lingering on his slow yet steady decline, but at what point are you allowed to criticize real life itself for being too clichéd?

Because in real life, regardless of his continued career triumphs, Elton John was in a lot of pain, so it is cathartic to see him, in the group therapy scenes that frame the film’s flashbacks, doffing his devil-horned stage costume, bit by bit, in an admittedly unsubtle metaphor for him removing his emotional armor, the feathers and rhinestones falling to the floor in one sequence like a snake shedding its skin.

There’s no Marvel Cinematic Universe-style end-credits scene, but “Rocketman” is worth watching through the credits - not just for the songs and the final title cards summing up all the ways in which Elton John reached (and shared) his happy ending, but also for vintage photos of the man back in the day, revealing Egerton’s uncanny resemblance to him, as well as how much the film went out of its way to recreate his most outlandish outfits.