{"id":449044,"date":"2026-02-27T20:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:11:11","slug":"elvis-presley-in-concert-review-otherworldly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449044\/","title":{"rendered":"Elvis Presley In Concert review \u2014 ‘otherworldly’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A documentary featuring never-before-seen footage of Elvis Presley\u2019s residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas \u2014\u202fnarrated by the King of Rock \u2019N\u2019 Roll himself.\u202f<\/p>\n

It has \u201cconcert\u201d in its title, but\u00a0EPiC: Elvis\u00a0Presley\u00a0In\u00a0Concert\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0your typical concert film. Then again, director Baz Luhrmann\u2019s filmmaking is rarely typical. The filmmaker behind\u00a0Moulin Rouge!<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Romeo + Juliet<\/a>\u00a0found a perfect match for his flamboyant, maximalist style with 2022\u2019s biopic\u00a0Elvis<\/a>;\u00a0Presley\u2019s\u00a0exuberant\u00a0costumes and\u00a0talent\u00a0for performance\u00a0a match made in heaven for the Australian auteur. Luhrmann\u2019s fascination with the King of Rock\u00a0\u2019N\u2019 Roll continues with this dazzling mix of documentary and concert, his first non-fiction film.<\/p>\n

\"EPiC<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u00a0plenty of\u00a0rare footage of\u00a0Elvis performing\u00a0here, particularly at his 1969 \u2014 1976 Las Vegas residency at the International Hotel.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0mixed with documentary elements that explore\u00a0the star\u2019s\u00a0upbringing, success in Hollywood, his military service, and more,\u00a0with\u00a0Elvis\u00a0himself\u00a0narrating\u00a0from archive audio. Editor Jonathan Redmond, a regular Luhrmann collaborator,\u00a0balances it into a\u00a0fascinating\u00a0experience, delivering a rock\u00a0\u2019n\u2019\u00a0roll rhythm while balancing a wide array of material.<\/p>\n

Everything here is designed to thrill, and seeing Elvis perform everything from his biggest hits to classics from The Beatles to Simon\u00a0&\u00a0Garfunkel feels like a privilege to watch.<\/p>\n

There is so much unseen footage here \u2014 and all restored so immaculately \u2014 that if you\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0familiar with Elvis,\u00a0you\u2019d\u00a0be\u00a0forgiven for\u00a0thinking\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0still alive. Luhrmann and his team\u00a0apparently pored\u00a0over\u00a059 hours of film negatives, as well as Super\u00a08 footage from the Graceland archives. The\u00a0colours\u00a0and music fly off the screen.<\/p>\n

The concert elements in particular\u00a0make for an exhilarating viewing experience.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a reason the man has a reputation as one of the greatest musicians of all time, and Luhrmann\u2019s film makes his star power abundantly clear. Everything here is designed to thrill, and seeing Elvis perform everything from his biggest hits to classics from The Beatles to Simon\u00a0&\u00a0Garfunkel feels like a privilege to watch.<\/p>\n

Only occasionally does Luhrmann get in his own way. The documentary elements\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0nearly as\u00a0developed as the concert side, prompting\u00a0more questions than it delivers answers. But the promised concert experience is otherworldly \u2014\u202fthe kind of unexpected thrills\u00a0that\u2019ll\u00a0have you all shook up.<\/p>\n

The offstage elements may slightly underwhelm, but Luhrmann\u2019s kaleidoscopic exploration of Elvis\u2019 Vegas residency is one of the most thrilling musical experiences you can have at a cinema.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A documentary featuring never-before-seen footage of Elvis Presley\u2019s residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas \u2014\u202fnarrated by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-449044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}