Bohemian Rhapsody

Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Allen Leech

Director: Bryan Singer

I’m going to be very transparent right from the beginning, Queen is one of my favorite bands and it’s always going to bother me I’ll never get to hear the original band perform together. They were innovative, thrilling and performed with infectious energy. I’ve been waiting for this film for a while now, ever since Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to make a movie about Freddie. So does the movie live up to the legend? Short answer is no but I’ll get to my reasons why later. The film opens with Freddie (Rami Malek) attending a concert for the band Smile, which includes eventual band members Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), who he has been a fan of. He catches them after their set when their lead singer has quit the band. It is here that Freddie also meets Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), who is the love of Freddie’s life, first romantically then continuing as friends. Before you know it, Freddie as well as John Deacon (Joe Mazello) are part of the band and take the world by storm, landing a huge record deal. As the band fame skyrockets, Freddie enters into a relationship with the band’s manager, Paul Prenter (Allen Leech), who begins to undermine the band and manipulate Freddie to do his bidding. This includes a terrible decision to break up the band so Freddie could go solo. However, after Freddie is diagnosed with AIDS, the band reunites to deliver their legendary performance at Live Aid. There’s a lot to unpack about the film. I’ll refrain from commenting on the well documented firing of the film’s director, Bryan Singer, outside of this mention. Having seen the film after opening weekend, I’ve heard all the criticisms ranging from straight washing to factual inaccuracies. The first criticism I don’t really see, as Freddie’s romantic relationship with Mary Austin only takes up 30 minutes of the 2 hour and 20 minute run time. She continues to be in the film because she and Freddie remain close friends. The rest of the film is the Freddie we have all come to hear about, albeit in PG-13 form. And as in many biopics, events are shifted to tell a more compelling story. What ultimately sunk the movie for me was that it failed in its approach to tell the story of Freddie Mercury. And this is no slight at Rami Malek, who commands the screen as Freddie. In fact all of the actors are quite good. There is just an unfortunate “been there done that” to the way the story is told. The manager is the villain? Check. Freddie’s lifestyle causes a rift in the band and causes strain on all his relationships? Check. The band breaks up? Check. They reunite for a big final show? Check. Visually, the film is stale as well. Freddie was an extravagant man and one who had an eye for visual flair. A movie about him should match that in style and energy. The concert footage, while better than everything that surrounds, isn’t as lively as it needed to be. Even the Live Aid concert that concludes the film, long considered to be one of Queen and music in general’s greatest moments, isn’t the show stopper it should have been. It’s all kinda boring. From what I’ve read, Sacha Baron Cohen’s version would have been very R Rated and detailed all the excess and energy that Freddie reveled in. That could have been the shot in the arm that the film needed. I know that the surviving band members had a pretty big say in how the story was told, wanting to focus on Queen as a band and not Freddie Mercury. I don’t necessarily disagree with that story telling angle but it should have been done a lot better and with more care. So, despite Rami Malek’s best efforts, the occasionally entertaining Bohemian Rhapsody fails to do justice to the legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen. C-