‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’: Review

Dir: Sam Wrench. US. 2023. 169mins

A dazzling flex of musical muscle, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour finds the global superstar delivering a rousing big-screen experience that runs nearly three hours while demonstrating her dexterity with different genres. Drawing from three sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in August, the concert film captures the tour’s central conceit — the 33-year-old artist selects a handful of tracks from each of her nine most recent albums — and what comes across strongest is her thrilling evolution over the last two decades. Filled with both spectacle and strikingly intimate moments, The Eras Tour is almost too much of a good thing — so many hits, so many memorable set pieces, so many peaks.

Grosses that could rival the year’s major blockbusters.

The film will open worldwide October 13, with Swift working directly with US theatre chains to release the picture. (Trafalgar Releasing is handling most international territories.) Strong reviews and, more importantly, ecstatic word of mouth from Swifties could propel the film to grosses that rival the year’s major blockbusters.

Director Sam Wrench (Billie Eilish Live At The O2) and editor Dom Whitworth keep the proceedings humming along, resisting the urge to employ gimmicky quick cuts to artificially goose the excitement. Instead of going through her 10 albums chronologically — her self-titled 2006 debut contributes only one track — Swift has sequenced the setlist around shifting tempos, segueing back and forth between high-energy numbers and more contemplative tunes.

Wrench emphasises each album’s strengths. The acoustic Folklore songs are filmed with stately elegance, while Reuptation’s bangers are visual feasts, the director pulling back so that we can take in the thrilling lighting scheme and Mandy Moore’s slinky choreography. Swift’s concerts are already examples of stellar stagecraft — the imaginative backdrops often change — and The Eras Tour has enough confidence to let the hard work that went into the tour’s design speak for itself, although Wrench’s camera puts the viewer much closer to the action that most ticket holders would have enjoyed at the actual show.

First rising to fame as a teenager, Swift has grown up in front of our eyes, but the different phases of life she experienced while making these albums, which often inspired her to pursue different creative directions, remain within her. As a result, she proves to be a charming chameleon in The Eras Tour. We see the sensitive troubadour, the dreamy romantic, the sexy flirt and the goofy dork. Remarkably, none of these personae feel forced as she effortlessly sheds one skin to don another, joyfully honouring all the disparate parts of herself.

Considering that her shows regularly run three-and-a-half hours, it’s impressive that The Eras Tour manages to fit in roughly 40 songs in the span of 169 minutes. As with many massive stadium shows, the film can occasionally be exhausting, the prolonged high levels of technical mastery risking becoming monotonous. But the way that Swift brings fresh gusto to familiar smashes such as ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ speaks to her boundless enthusiasm and competitive fire. Although she evinces a likably nerdy demeanour, the steeliness of her focus as she prowls the stage suggests an artist who wants to be the biggest in the world. That ambition isn’t oppressive, though: without overstating the case, The Eras Tour underlines the deep emotional connection she has with her audience, who see their own struggles for contentment in her tales of self-empowerment. 

Screened for critics in IMAX, the film makes excellent use of large-format screens, especially when Wrench shows Swift as a rather small speck in a sea of fans, their cellphone lights illuminating the darkness. But The Eras Tour also finds ideal moments to highlight what’s so resonant about her most heartfelt songs. Her epic breakup ballad ‘All Too Well,’ which she plays on acoustic guitar, has a stunning directness in which SoFi’s massive scale slips away, the singer connecting with the viewer through candid close-ups.  

That said, The Eras Tour peaks highest when Swift revisits her uptempo, dance-y numbers. Favourites like ‘…Ready for It?’ and ‘Anti-Hero’ are top-flight pop songs further animated by Swift’s passionate performance and her boisterous backup dancers, but her transition from country darling to pop royalty hasn’t blunted her insightful lyrics, which have only grown more sophisticated with time. The complicated portraits of love found in reflective tunes such as ‘Lover’ and ‘The 1’ argue that her long-running search for a soulmate may continue, but she’s finding new, more nuanced ways to plumb her broken heart. Whether weepy or accusatory, shattered or sarcastic, Taylor Swift puts all of her different selves on display in The Eras Tour. You’ll sing along with all of them.