Movie Review: Baz Luhrmann Resurrects Elvis Presley For The IMAX Stage In "EPiC"

7/12 ForReel Score | 3.5/5 Stars

I was born in 1995 and thus never shared the world with Elvis Presley. The first time I heard his voice was in Lilo and Stitch, a common refrain from my generation. Of course I heard his music in passing but my first major exposure to his story was in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, which I absolutely loved. It captured Elvis’ wild on stage charm and fraught relationship with Colonel Tom Parker through the absurd lens of a comic strip. It often read as both a homage and a takedown, especially with how blatantly it acknowledged Elvis’ appropriation of historically black genres. Before he moves on to bringing the story of Joan of Arc to the modern age, Luhrmann has decided to give Elvis fans a parting gift. During the production of Elvis, Luhrmann and his team discovered 59 hours of unseen performance and B-Roll footage of Elvis. It was of course in poor condition, so he worked with Peter Jackson’s Park Road team to restore it to IMAX quality in a similar vein as The Beatles: Get Back. As a result, audiences can treat themselves to a couple of Elvis’ boisterous concerts in the early 70s, just a few years before his passing. The king of rock and roll makes a delirious final stand. 

EPiC is not as in-depth a look into Presley’s creative process as Get Back is for The Beatles. There are brief glimpses of him interacting with his studio band to prepare for the show but the vast majority of the film is either concert footage or Graceland archive footage that Presley narrates. What we hear from him is relatively surface level. He talks about his life and career with vague detail, mostly in praise of the nefarious Tom Parker and in awe of what performing means to him. There are no other interviews or attempts to delve into the darker facets of his personality depicted more vividly in Sofia Coppola’s brilliant Priscilla. For better or worse, this is an unapologetic celebration of Elvis, and a wildly entertaining one at that. 

The restoration of this footage is remarkable. The images are aged but vivid, fully transporting us back to Vegas in the 70s. We get to see Presley performing on stage and his rabid fans who by this point spanned generations. The way they interacted with him truly goes to show that it was a different time. Between songs, Elvis is constantly seen kissing female fans who seemingly are allowed to climb on stage whenever they feel like it. These bizarrely intimate interactions become even more wild when the film’s end card informs us that Presley did over a thousand performances during this run in Vegas. At a certain point, he must’ve been completely numb to the admiration and attraction of his fans. Running on hard drugs and a dream and performing remarkably well despite it. 

Despite generously knowing 20% of the songbook, I was still mostly riveted by Presley’s performance. He’s not as vibrant and full of movement in this later period as he is in the brief glimpses of his early career that the film treats us too. He is physically and mentally going through the motions. Yet, his voice is so distinct and powerful. Even though he’s rushing through these songs, we can see just how deeply he’s internalized the compositions based on his small movements and expressions as the beats and rhythms change. The musicianship of his large backup band and singers is also beautiful. Luhrmann isn’t shy about showing the shoulders Elvis stood on to thrive and survive. 

While not particularly illuminating as a documentary, EPiC is still a worthwhile experience for enthusiasts of this period in music or restoration in general. In a time where vital media is being repressed and destroyed, the very fact that the tools exist to bring footage like this to light in such vivid fashion inspires hope in itself. I wouldn’t say I’m a bigger Elvis fan because of this film, but it certainly gives me a deeper understanding of what people saw in him.