‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ Review: Baz Luhrmann Raids the Vaults for an Electrifying Companion Piece to His 2022 Bio-Drama

There’s a huge difference between memorializing a piece of pop culture and reanimating it. Dutch DJ-producer-musician Tom Holkenborg, who records as Junkie XL, achieved the latter in 2002, taking the semi-obscure 1968 Elvis Presley song “A Little Less Conversation” and remixing it for a Nike commercial. By adding an unrelenting backbeat, punching up the guitars and horns and funkifying the drums, the electronic overhaul transformed a throwaway tune recorded for a minor Presley movie into a 21st century global smash, catching fire in dance clubs and reaching No. 1 in over 20 countries. The track now lives on as a classic banger.

Four years after his glittering bio-drama, Elvis, Baz Luhrmann pulls off something akin to Holkenborg’s magic act with EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. The Australian director doubles down on his worship of a subject whose flamboyant showmanship, soaring emotions, perpetual motion and ravenous taste for bling make them very much kindred spirits. It’s as if Luhrmann were conducting a séance, awakening Elvis from the afterlife with a raw vitality and outsize energy that are rare even among the living.

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