Four months on from its explosive debut at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and then hugely successful run in cinemas, Baz Luhrmann’s definitive Elvis movie rocks the home formats in a glittering one-disc release bursting with brilliant bonus material.
As I type this, the Elvis movie is still playing in cinemas less than three miles from me – seemingly still packing in audiences many weeks since it first premiered during a particularly hot British summer. The rising temperatures didn’t dissuade punters from snapping up cinema tickets, though, and, at the time of writing, Elvis has pulled in over $284 million in box-office revenue. That puts it in the top three music biopics behind only NWA movie Straight Outta Compton, and the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody – two movies released before the pandemic FYI.
Leading the cast in his breakout role, and sure-to-be Oscar-nommed performance as the title character is Austin Butler, an actor with a beaming career ahead of him, and also screen legend Tom Hanks as Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Essentially, the film is Parker’s story, the character our guide through 159 minutes of cinematic gold that unspools its multi-decade story at breakneck speed, never stopping to catch its breath – a Lurhmann signature.
My original theatrical review from late May hailed the film as an electrifying juggernaut of a film, and upon viewing the film at home, away from a packed auditorium full of excited film critics and media colleagues, on a much smaller screen, the film still captivates and engrosses throughout. In fact, one can only marvel more at its unrelenting energy and authentic ambitions.
A must for fans of the King, absolutely, but also an essential watch for the rest of us as Luhrmann carves a bold, beautiful slice of 20th-century Americana that has to be seen to be believed.
As for the bonus stuff, Warner Brothers could have gone easy on the extras, but instead offer a set of superbly assembled making-of documentary features, the first of which, ‘Bigger Than Life: The Story Of ELVIS’ is it’s stand-out. The 22-minute behind-the-scenes feature is loaded with interviews with all of the main players, including Luhrmann, Butler, and Tom Hanks (though this is the only doc he is seen in on the disc). There’s also a whistle-stop tour of all of the departments with insight with dept. heads, including production designer and costume designer Catherine Martin, and director of photography, Mandy Walker. It is only 22 minutes long, so expect the detail to be limited, but as an overall feel of this huge production, it is well worth a visit. There are other featurettes as well; ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Royalty’; ‘The Music and the Artists Behind Elvis’; ‘Fit For A King: The Style of Elvis’ and ‘Viva Australia: Recreating Iconic Locations for Elvis’ which go into more detail on certain aspects of production, though all are much shorter in length.
We also have a music video, complete with lyrics from the film’s main track, ‘Trouble’, and the ability to zap straight to musical sequences in the film. In all, a worthy single-disc release for one of THE best films of 2022 so far.
Elvis
Summary
A very worthy set of bonus bits compliment this stand-out film of 2022; Baz Luhrman’s best since his ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – a must for fans of The King and for the rest of us, too.
Elvis is available on digital download, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD now.
