My son’s GF like to take me to the movies without telling me what we’re seeing. I don’t know until the previews end and the opening credits roll.

Tonight I had that experience with EPiC. I also hadn’t seen or heard anything about it in advance, so didn’t know what to expect. For context, Elvis became popular before I was born, but was big during my youth and died at 42 when I was in my teens. I was never a big fan, but didn’t hate him either.

EPiC is interesting. I was thinking it might be a bio pic, where it told the story of all or part of his life, interspersed with concert footage. It’s not that. It’s mostly concert and rehearsal footage, with some voice-over of Elvis from a couple of interviews he gave. There’s no other voices aside from some of the interview questions and a couple of his interactions with other people.

I wondered how they would deal with the end of his career, when his fame was waning and he was overweight but still performing. The answer is they don’t handle it - the film isn’t about that - it’s a glimpse into the performer that Elvis was at his peak, and at that it’s pretty masterfully done.

The footage has been amazingly well restored - it’s not at all grainy of faded, it’s vibrant - as is the sound. It captures a very charismatic performer who owned the stage and always, always seems to be enjoying himself. He frequently shares a smile with his band members that looks as if everyone is in on some funny joke, and they have to keep going to avoid just laughing.

I recommend the movie to anyone curious about why Elvis was the star that he was, and for sure anyone who is already an Elvis fan.