Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen are and were a big deal. The Beetles claimed they were more popular than Jesus, well, Queen are more popular than royalty. Their range of music was diverse, each album was a step into another genre but was always rooted in rock and roll. Like many bands of the era, the critics didn’t always get Queen but among the public they caused quite a storm. This is the Queen that Queen wants you to know. It’s one of the film’s merits as well as a detriment. 

Where the film is most comfortable, and completely within its element, is the musical scenes regardless whether it’s a “live” show (all music scenes the mimed) or a short scene that gives an iconic song a little bit of backstory. The live performances are electrifying and exciting because of the superb editing which gives you the vibe that you are actually there. The sweeping camera movements and close ups of Freddie at the Live Aid Concert give the impression you are onstage with Freddie and also gives the show a whole new vividness and vibrancy to an already incredible performance. Most importantly of all, Rami Malek captures Freddie’s flamboyancy and incredible stage persona so well it’s as close to the real thing as you can get.

The music is the film’s strength, and that’s what I feel most people will go in for. However, as I said Queen wanting to show Queen according to Queen is much of a weakness as it is a strength. There has been a great deal of coverage on what’s been cut out of the film rather than what has been put in it. Sasha Baron Cohen left production because his vision of the film differed greatly to that of Roger Taylor and Brain May’s. Following Taylor and May’s vision meant that the film was drained of depth.

There is very little in the film that would reflect badly on Queen (there are one or two band arguments) and there’s also very little on Freddie’s life (outside music and his relationship with Mary Austin) which is undoubtedly of great importance if you were to make a biopic of Freddie Mercury. Maybe it’s due to Freddie’s private character but Freddie’s death from AIDS is integral because he was the first rock star to die from the disease thus it’s a shame that its horrible symptoms were hardly touched upon. Yet Freddie announcing his contraction of the disease to the band is deeply poignant, but it’s mostly because the context of what the disease did to Freddie is very well known. 

However, I went in knowing I wasn’t going to get that type of film anyway and it was only going to be about the music. For that reason, it became an immensely enjoyable experience even if I felt there could have been platitudes as far as the eye could see if they made something slightly bolder than this unrevealing biopic.  

4/5