G’day mates. This review may be biased because I’m a Queen fanatic, so…“grain of salt” idiom.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a PG-13 biopic about one of the greatest bands in rock history and the passing of one of music’s most iconic voices. Extra emphasis on PG-13. This isn’t “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” or “Ray,” which is why I think Sasha Baron Cohen, who was initially pegged to play Freddie Mercury, and Brian May had their turbulence about a decade ago when this film was first green lit.
Rami Malek is a superhero whose jawline could cut glass, and was a convincing Freddie Mercury. The promo adverts took me out of it a bit though. He came across as a bit of caricature of Fred, and I sat in the theater with my arms crossed and the stale face thinking, “they aren’t gonna pull this shit off,” but they did! They really did it!
The casting director, and the makeup and costuming folk all deserved metals for their efforts. The actors who portrayed Brian May and Roger Taylor were spot on, mate! Would’ve loved a little more attention on how they all met John Deacon though. They always leaving my mans Deacon out even though he wrote some of the group’s best bops.
Pacing issues and a couple areas of poor direction frustrated me. The scenes with Freddie and Mary were a little melodramatic, but necessary—she’s still the only person on Earth who knows where his remains are buried. (Why do I know this?)
It’s a bit unsettling for me to review this because I know the director departed before the film’s production was complete and someone else finished his work. I think the film’s flow may have suffered a little because of this. There was a moment when the song “The Show Must Go On” played, and I couldn’t help but imagine what an R-rated, Baz Luhrmann-directed, “Moulin Rogue”-esque Queen biopic would have looked like.
Brian May and Roger Taylor did mention they wanted to protect Freddie’s legacy, and I agree with taking some creative, historically-inaccurate liberties to push the narrative along, but there were moments when I shook my head like “why lie about that part though?!”
The Live•Aid scene made me cry real thug tears. Like the single tear drops, you know what I mean. If anything, see the film just for the final 20 minutes. I saw this movie on opening weekend, and I’ll see it again and again just cuh I love Queen that much and I’ve waited for almost a decade for this film.
Also, loved the fan service moments with Mike Myers—the real ones know. (SCHWING) 😏 *head bang*