Epic: Elvis Presley in Concert - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Epic: Elvis Presley in Concert



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
While the film itself may not be Baz Luhrmann’s best work, there is absolutely no doubt that he poured everything he had into the making of 2022’s Elvis. It was a massive project with huge scope, incredible songs, and a look at the king of rock n’ roll himself. Luhrmann is a self-described Elvis aficionado, and he really put his heart and soul into making the picture. I personally was not a wild fan of the film as I’m not a big Elvis fan, but Austin Butler actually did a rather good job at recreating the legendary rock n’ roller as best he could. The mannerisms, the tics, and even a lot of the vocals sound amazingly accurate at times. And while the film came and went a few years ago, Baz Luhrmann emphatically didn’t want to stop the proverbial train and decided to pour his efforts into taking the archival footage he had access to that wasn’t used in the movie itself, and craft a documentary that brought the spotlight back to the performer during the 1970s, after he was making a comeback from the backsliding he did in the 1960s.

The film is split up into sections, with the first 20 to 25 minutes focusing on Elvis and his life as he tried to re steer the ship back on course and what he was going through as he and his crew were trying to fix what was done. Later on, the film shifts focus to his stage presence and attempts at genre shifting, with him dabbling in R&B, as well as going for a more modern take in the ever-evolving world of the 1970s, where he would be effectively left behind for bands like The Eagles, Heart, etc. We also get a look into the condemnation of hyper-Baptist church leaders and the attempts by the church to try and stop what they considered to be a societal plague (and to be fair, in SOME ways they weren’t wrong. The “rock n’ roll lifestyle” and self-destructive behavior that is associated with rock stars is a meme for a reason. Though I don’t agree with throwing the baby out with the bath water.

While we get a look into his personal life and what happened behind the scenes, I was a bit saddened that Luhrmann didn’t take a deeper look at Colonel Tom Parker and the absolutely parasitic nature of how he exploited Elvis, but instead treated him as a footnote. But aside from that, the film does a wonderful job taking archival footage and showing just how incredible the man’s stage presence was. If you take nothing else away from this documentary, THAT is the key feature here. The man became a worldwide phenomenon not only due to the fact that he could sing and was “provocative”, but due to his massive, MASSIVE presence on stage. I don’t even like a lot of Elvis’s music, but even I was starstruck by just how large his fingerprint was when he was up in front of audiences.

The latter section of the film focuses a lot on his tours and concerts all over America, with him taking up many a performance at the Las Vegas “International Hotel” as well as material with him and the band working through material (as all bands do). The result is a strangely hypnotic and intimate look at the man’s later years and the inner workings of a performer on stage “doing their thang,” if you know what I mean. It may not be a perfect documentary, but it is fascinating to watch the singer rehearse and work through things with all of the archival footage and material that Luhrmann had dug up. And whether you like the man or like the movie Elvis, you can not say that Baz Luhrmann is not passionate about the material, and it shows in the finished product.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for smoking and some language




4K Video: Video:

While some people do not appreciate this, I’m actually glad that they didn’t include an HDR10 or Dolby Vision version of the film for this 4K UHD release. Not because I don’t like it, but rather that since this flick is 90% old documentary footage, the SDR release makes more sense and is more traditional to what was put out before. Like all Baz Luhrmann films, this production absolutely loves colors, and saturates the entire screen with them. Costumes, billboards with flashing lights, the stage lighting, EVERYTHING is just blasting colors from every angle. Blacks are nice, skin tones look natural, and fine details are going to vary. Mostly because it’s an amalgamation of stock shots from multiple different sources, and that naturally is not going to look even or consistent, even with the heavy post-production that was used to process and clean up the older stuff. It’s a solid 4K disc, just not one that is going to look like a modern (or even semi-modern) Hollywood film.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is really well done, with a heavy emphasis on the music (duhhhhhhhhhhh), adding a rather wide and dynamic soundstage. Not every song is perfect, but there has been a lot of work done to get the audio as clean as possible. There are heavy swathes of the film that are dialogue-centric, and that is handled impeccably, with only very, very minor surround usage going on. Bass is tight and punchy, but honestly not going to blow you away, as this is not a sub-20 Hz ground shaker. But that is 100% to be expected considering this is a music-type mix. And when the king gets up on stage, the surrounds and mains light up like the 4th of July.

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Extras:

• Teaser and Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots

Final Score: ​

Utilizing old archival footage from previous documentaries, old footage that hasn’t been seen much before, and newer scenes for this documentary, this is a love letter to a bygone hero of the famed director. Longtime fans will probably recognize a lot of the already commercially utilized bits from other documentaries, but it still is worth checking out as Luhrmann is very committed to making this a very unique experience. The 4K UHD disc looks and sounds great, although archival footage will vary. So fans of the king will be sure to want to give this a watch. For other people, this might serve as a rental.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Elvis Presley, James Burton, Charlie Hodge, Glen D. Hardin, Sammy Davis Jr., Bono
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Written by: Bono
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DVS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Sony Music
Rated: R
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 11th, 2026

Recommendation: Decent Rental/Watch