Never-before-seen footage and recordings feature Elvis Presley in concert at his Las Vegas residency during the later stage of his career.
Spanning thousands of hours of conversations and 1960s-early 70s Las Vegas lost performance footage assembled together for director Baz Luhrmann’s documentary/concert film hybrid EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, in one interview, the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll reveals that he approaches every song as if he is playing it again for the first time. There is no slumming through it or going through the motions; Elvis believes if he doesn’t give himself entirely over to the song in body and spirit, the crowd won’t feel a visceral reaction. Early on, some of this is done through rehearsals, which gives yet another window into Elvis’ enduring love for his loyal fans and bandmates, and just how much he loved performing (sometimes up to three times a day).
Given that this film features never-before-seen, uncovered, remastered audiovisuals with sharp clarity suited to IMAX and astonishingly seamless editing that splices together several variations of the same song to capture the essence of each, it feels as if we are hearing these songs for the first time, or under a spell more dazzling and showstopping than ever before. The painstaking efforts that went into piecing this footage together give the film and music a raw, hypnotic power. Far more electric, with a somewhat more restrained yet creatively effective approach to sensory assault, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a greater accomplishment than the filmmaker’s actual mediocre biopic of the legendary musician, which starred Austin Butler.
The film’s only noticeable stumble is that it does feel the need to begin with a setup barreling through the usual crash course on Elvis Presley’s life and rise to superstardom, briefly touching on being drafted into war, achieving greater fame following that, and then subsequently starring in a series of Hollywood dud movies for an acting career that never took off. Surprisingly, anything related to Priscilla Presley is hardly mentioned, allowing this experience to wisely focus more centrally on Elvis Presley and his music.
Elvis is a film from this decade, and the world at large still seems to have a working knowledge of the basics regarding his life. It simply doesn’t need to be rehashed. The good news is that this opening stretch only takes up roughly 15 minutes of a 96-minute running time that is otherwise jam-packed with his classic songs and the briefest of insightful interjections, including archival interviews and brief glimpses into the lyrics or what the song meant to Elvis during this Las Vegas run. It’s a brilliant approach to folding a documentary aesthetic into the rapturous tunes, while ensuring the latter are given a slice of context. This further undermines the need for that extended opening history, but thankfully, it doesn’t last long, as the film has a clear, singular vision of what it wants to be.
Once EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert gets into the groove of its purpose, the music and filmmaking takeover with extraordinary fluidity and immersion which is doubly impressive considering that one is typically looking at two or three different wardrobes of Elvis Presley across each song, committed to that mission statement that every time he sang it, he was belting it and putting everything he had into the music, entrusting that his dedicated, rabid fans of primarily women would do the same.
Every so often, a moment will pop up in which Elvis demonstrates what an interactive, dynamic presence he was to a live audience, beyond the typical and beloved swaying, pelvic thrusting, possessed-like movement, and swagger. That excitement and energy is infectious, inducing everything from head-bobbing to feet-tapping with euphoric joy. There is nothing but burning love for EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.
