Bohemian Rhapsody – Review

Bohemian Rhapsody film review, Queen Freddie Mercury biopicDirected by: Bryan Singer

Runtime: 134 minutes

I don’t think it is too hyperbolic to say that everyone loves Queen. Whether it is the banging and clapping of ‘We Will Rock You,’ the operatic section of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, or the crooning of ‘Somebody to Love,’ I would defy anyone who denies having a good memory with a Queen song at its fulcrum. The trailer for Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody was built for the Queen lover in all of us—the high-voltage smash hit songs mixes with iconic imagery of the charismatic Freddie Mercury, with some inspirational sound bites mixed in. It could be said that the magic of Queen, of Freddie, could not be replicated in a biopic. Unfortunately, after viewing the film, those fears are validated.

We are introduced to Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek) as tosses baggage at Heathrow airport, where some ‘lads’ mislabel him as a ‘paki’. From the get-go, we understand where the rest of the film is going to go: Farrokh Bulsara becomes the Freddie Mercury we have all come to know and love; he interacts with the other members of Queen (who nobody cares about quite as much); he comes to terms with his sexuality; and, his ‘unique’ star shines brightly, despite all odds. In this film, we have the villainous boyfriend, the doting wife, and the patient band-members. Reading the Wikipedia page for Queen is more informative, and less cliche-ridden, than this ‘Brian May-approved’ biopic.

Malek does an impressive impersonation as the glamourous rock god, but it doesn’t seem to edge beyond that. With some prosthetic incisors and extravagant costuming, he had enough of a likeness, but I couldn’t help but feel this was too much of an impression rather than an actual performance. The songs were the highlight of the film, but then again, they were Queen, so of course the soundtrack would be stellar. The other band members played their parts well, but the script didn’t give them much room to shine. I found myself wanting to see more about the other members of Queen, but they were all reduced to a single recurring joke. Brian May is an astrophysicist/good guitarist, Roger Taylor was reduced to a womaniser/ex-dentist, and poor John Deacon had consistent ‘nobody cares about you’ lines thrown at him. Allen Leech plays Paul Prenter, Mercury’s personal manager and squeeze, with such villainy that it seems the film acted as an excuse for May and Taylor to finally unleash their hatred on the man.

As for historical accuracy, some pedants will notice a few of their songs are out of order, and the ‘extravagant parties’ Mercury holds are considerably, well, tame in comparison to what I expect the reality of them to have been. The most egregious change from fact to fiction was having Mercury’s AIDs diagnosis present itself a few years early, just so he can have a speech about not being defined by his disease before a certain concert. In doing this, the film presents Live Aid as Freddie’s defiant stand against his mortal illness, and therefore, presents us with more of a ‘life-defining’ narrative for it. Towards the end of the film, we are given a recreation of this concert, and it just made me wish I was viewing the real performance on YouTube instead.

This film will work for people who forgot how much they loved Queen. People can bop to the music, see an imitation of their beloved frontman, and have the script pump inspirational narratives into their minds. However, for people who have always carried a love for Mercury and his fellow misfits, the film feels empty and shallow. Yes, you could go to see Bohemian Rhapsody for your falsetto-fix, but really, I recommend spinning their greatest hits and reading a biography instead.

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