BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (2018) MOVIE REVIEW
After numerous viewings and countless hours spent listening to their music, the time has come to review my most anticipated movie in the last 5 years. And what did I think of it? Like the song it is appropriately named after, the film Bohemian Rhapsody starts of slow and mellow before kicking it into fifth gear with the film's heartfelt and near-perfect conclusion. Although the movie does a phenomenal job handling the music and performances, critics (and myself included) are saying that Bryan Singer forgot he was making a Freddie Mercury biopic and instead opted for a film focusing a little too much on the band's rise to fame. And in all honesty, as a Queen megafan, both are just as intriguing to watch transpire.
As previously mentioned, the film opens with the band preparing to perform their set where we see glimpses of Freddie's life ending condition beginning to take effect. Cutting to 1970, we are shown Freddie's life, then Farrokh, before becoming Freddie Mercury where he visits a small club with a 3 man band "Smile" are performing. After their set and their singer leaves them, Freddie confronts Brian May and Roger Taylor about joining the band. After showing off his vocals, May and Taylor are convinced and along with their new bass player John Deacon, the band is formed. The beginning of the film does seem a little rushed, especially on a second viewing, but when you take in account all the moments and important scenes later on, you realise it is a small and forgivable critique.
One of the many things I loved in this movie was the editing and use of the soundtrack. When you are given the opportunity to use music from such a critically acclaimed band like Queen, it becomes impossible to not have high expectations. But I can safely say that the editing and use of each song to tell its own part of the story was nothing short of tremendous. A perfect example of this is the use of the 1980 hit "Another One Bites The Dust". Not to spoil anything in the story, but this song is used when tensions start to arise between Mercury and his fellow band members. This begins a montage of Freddie visiting a gay strip-club to begin a life a sex and drugs, with the bass line of the song accompanying him through it all as Freddie begins to visualise everything he cares about. Besides this, alot of the songs in the film seem to be there for entertainment sakes which in complete honesty isn't a terrible thing but just screams wasted potential. Especially considering some scenes in the film have no score, where a song in its stead could have made for compelling and beautiful story telling.
Now we can't talk about this film without mentioning the number one thing the movie is being praised for, the acting. When I heard that Rami Malek was going to portray Freddie Mercury, I got excited. If you haven't seen Mr. Robot, the performance he gives in that is out of this world and its a crying shame not many people knew him going into this movie. But after Bohemian Rhapsody, critics and general audiences alike will know the name Malek. Each mannerism he does while on screen really does show that Malek spent hours training for this role and it pays off in a huge way. The scenes between him and Mary are among some of the most emotional scenes I've seen in a very long time. Now this isn't to say that no one else does a good job in the film. Allen Leech does a good job being the antagonist to the band's future, each actor playing May, Taylor and Deacon respectively are great and bounce of each other naturally and it really does seem like they are more than good friends, but family.
Overall while the script does suffer heavily from director Bryan Singer wanting to do a movie revolving around whole band and not just Mercury, the movie is still a great look into the people behind the performers. Rami Malek does an uncanny representation of Mercury and with talks already surrounding Malek regarding an Oscar, its easy to see why after having seen Rhapsody. All in all, if you love Queen's music and want to learn more about the origins of their songs and their lives, this movie is for you. However, if you want to learn more about Freddie Mercury and his growth from a young Pakistan boy to the mega star he would become, I would still recommend the movie. Because when you get right down to it, this movie embodies exactly what Queen was. Something that isn't afraid to be what it wants to be, no matter what critics may think of it. Kind of like Bohemian Rhapsody (the song) when it first released.
OVERALL
8 / 10
