EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
- Ben Sorensen
- 18 hours ago
- 2 min read
Baz Luhrmann has made a career out of turning biography into fireworks. However in EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, he does something sneakier: he builds a cathedral out of sound and then lets Elvis Presley walk in and casually remind you he was never just “a legend”, but a working musician with lethal timing, charisma for days, and a surprisingly sharp wit.
This is a concert-doc hybrid that isn't just a “greatest hits package” it’s more like an intimate encounter with performance itself filled with detail and nuance; the tiny breaths between phrases, the way a band synchronously and intuitively dances, the electricity of a room when an artist knows they’ve got you. This is a kind of “cinematic tone poem” driven largely by Elvis’s own voice and presence rather than talking-head explanations, and that’s exactly how it plays: closer to immersion than information.
"EPiC is sonically beautiful."
The film’s biggest flex is how it makes Elvis’s voice feel physically present, not as a relic, but as a living instrument. There’s a depth and dimensionality to the audio design that rewards a trip to the cinema more than a lounge-room watch. It’s not “loud”; it’s crafted, present, with a sense of space that turns familiar moments into fresh ones.
"Baz Luhrmann’s style… but with a lighter, nuanced grip."
It’s not the usual Baz sugar-rush where the edit is trying to out-sparkle the subject. Here, his flair feels more like a frame, not a takeover. The result is something that can feel oddly authentic for a filmmaker known for maximalism: it lets Elvis’s humanity do the heavy lifting.
The best stuff is the more personal moments and how they aren’t “acted”, but revealed. Elvis comes through as funny, alert, generous with an audience, and genuinely absorbed in the act of making music. The film makes a persuasive case that his talent wasn’t only his voice; it was his relationship to the song, the band, and the crowd and who he was.
If you like your cultural icons approached with a bit of political grit, you may notice the film tends to sidestep some harder historical/ethical questions in favour of keeping the experience rapturous and romantic. That’s not a spoiler, it’s a choice, smoothing-over uncomfortable context to keep the film staying loyal to its mission of concert immersion.
EPiC is a lovingly engineered, highly cinematic act of listening joy, and an opportunity for Elvis to “WOW” us again. If you’ve ever wanted a film to make you feel you’re in the presence of an artist rather than the shadow of one, EPiC lands the trick with confidence and heart.
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