Review: Swagger, sweat and flirtation swirl in 'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,' a tribute to a performer and little else
The first hour of “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” convinces you that the King is the greatest entertainer who ever lived.By the end of it, he’s a god.
Director Baz Luhrmann claims he made this Imax documentary so that any poor souls who never got to see the King live can worship him in action.Really, I think Luhrmann is praying that in a thousand years, some alien civilization will discover this footage and build a whole religion around the thrall Elvis’ hip thrusts had over a crowd.If that future comes to pass, then Luhrmann himself will be elevated as a key disciple.
He’s so devoted to Elvis that this is his second tribute in four years, the other being, of course, his 2022 biopic “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler, who was good in the role if not quite iconic.That more traditional film hewed to the genre’s standard rise-and-fall narrative and was dinged mostly because the King’s life represents so many things to so many people — race, class, controlling relationships — that it’s impossible to please everyone or for any actor to fill his blue suede shoes.“EPiC” sticks to the surer footing of documentary footage: the man himself performing over two dozen tunes — including “That’s All Right,” “Burning Love” and “In the Ghetto” — plus twice that number on the background soundtrack.
(I’m not into his gospel hits, but they suit the mood.) A dream concert that’s longer and larger than what fans could have seen in reality, the movie is stitched together primarily from Elvis’ Las Vegas appearances in 1970 and 1972.You can tell which year it is by the amount of rhinestones on his costumes, which become increasingly maximalist.
When Elvis retook the stage in 1969, he hadn’t performed before a live audience in nine years and he’d gotten a little uncool.Beatlemania had dinged his appeal so perilously that editor Jonathan Redmond splices its arrival with images of car crashes and missile attacks.
Reporters at that come...