"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" Film Review

"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" Film Review

Rating: 5/5

By: Nathaniel Simpson

    Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world, and will easily go down as one of the most influential and famous singers to have ever lived. Her entire career, which has spanned over 15 years and over 10 albums, is put gloriously on display in her concert film, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour", which shows the mega spectacle that she put on at the Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. With this easily being one of the biggest, and one of the highest selling tours of all time, Swift and the film's director, Sam Wrench, had a big task to pull off, and they did it flawlessly. The entire film, which comes in at just under three hours in the theatrical release, but expands to over 3 and a half hours in the version on Disney+, captures everything die-hard fans, or even casual listeners, want to see. This is the perfect film for those who were unable to experience this concert live, or even for those who want to relive this beautiful experience one more time on the screen. 

    If you are somehow unfamiliar with Taylor Swift, she is easily the most popular female singer working today, and has released hit albums after albums. She started in 2006, moving forward in the county genre before changing into a pop singer. From there, she has then experimented with different types of music genres, songwriting, synths, producers, and much more. When her old albums were bought by Scooter Braun (who is a major villain to all of the Swifties out there), he barred her from playing any of her own songs from her first six albums, and practically tried to ruin her career. However, Swift took matters into her own hands, and re-recorded her albums, labeling them as Taylor's Versions, so she can own the masters to her own songs, rightfully. 

    While Swift has faced many controversies over the year, she has been supported by her fans known as "Swifties", and that is elegantly on display here in the film. Wrench uses numerous shots of screaming and crying fans, who are either freaking out at the chance to see their favorite artist live or belting the words at the top of their lungs with this mega superstar. These audience shots and showing how Swift affects these listeners of all ages is so powerful and moving, showing how music can really change someone's life or make it better. This gives such a personal, relatable side for the viewer watching, dancing, and singing at home. 

    Swift definitely has beautiful showmanship, and she demonstrates for the entire runtime how she was born to be a performer. She is constantly moving, dancing, and singing, and she doesn't even show any sign of slowing down or being tired. She goes through numerous costume changes and choreographed dance segments, and does so to perfection. Her voice is beautiful throughput, and never falters or gives out on her no matter how hard she is dancing or performing for this huge audience at Sofi. 

    At the same time, you can see how much she loves doing this and how appreciative she is to have this huge fanbase that allows her to do this for a living. It doesn't seem like she takes any of this for granted, and she really puts her all into every single song performance and gives 110% at all times. It's honestly really inspiring watching a performer of this magnitude do this for so long and still give it their all in every single performance they do. 

    In terms of cinematography and capturing the concert atmosphere, Wrench does a seemingly perfect job. There are cameras all throughout the stadium, and we only see another camera perhaps once or twice throughout the entire film. He makes us, the viewer, feel like we have been transported to the venue while she is performing, and gives us a true front row seat. We see every detail of Swift, from her costume changes down to how her microphone changes with different costumes and eras. We see the beautiful movements from her background dancers, and how it all ties together to present a coherent and wildly entertaining show. Her vocals are perfect here, and we hear everything she has to say and every lyric is so clear and concise with how she performs it. It's truly inspiring, and I honestly think Wrench may go down as being one of the best director of concerts films like this. 

    Taylor Swift is such a great artist, and she beautifully showcases that here. She is able to entertain an audience and the viewer at home for three and a half hours, which is mad impressive when you think about her having to do that a couple times a week while on tour. This entire film shows how talented she is and shows this amazing, high-octane, and enjoyable concert that will have the viewer out of their seat dancing and singing. It it completely understandable why this is one of the highest grossing concert films of all time, and I think she has gained some new fans around the world from this movie.