2018 | Dir. Bryan Singer* | 134 Minutes
"There's only room in this band for one hysterical queen."
Baggage handler Farrokh Bulsara joins the band Smile in 1970 after their lead singer abruptly quits. The band changes its name to Queen, Farrokh legally changes his name to Freddie Mercury, and their music is massively successful thanks in large part to Freddie's unique voice and eccentric ingenuity. Before long, Freddie's burgeoning ego and public controversy surrounding the question of his sexual orientation threaten to destroy the band. After an extended estrangement from his bandmates, Freddie makes amends and Queen delivers a legendary performance for the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985.
Bohemian Rhapsody is the laziest of biopics, just barely covering the basic story of Freddie Mercury and Queen. The drama surrounding the band is molded into the shape of the standard band movie narrative without anything resembling a unique story beat or hook to set it apart. The movie's best moments are the montages that showcase the band's unorthodox creative method but these sequences are all too brief and still factually incorrect. Freddie is written to act and behave exactly as one would expect for a bold and talented but egotistical frontman, and the more humanizing and interesting aspects of his character such as his internal struggle with his cultural heritage, his intimate relationship with lifelong friend and confidant Mary Austin, and his closeted homosexuality are presented in such a manufactured boiled-down fashion that it all comes off as rather disingenuous. As the film is primarily centered on Freddie, save for a handful of moments featuring an outspoken Roger Taylor, Freddie's bandmates serve more as stand-ins than actual characters. Ultimately, the picture offers no real insight for anyone who is even remotely familiar with Freddie and Queen.
The one true saving grace of the film is Rami Malek's performance. Malek completely disappears into the role of Freddie perfectly emulating all of his natural charisma and stage presence. In spite of the narrative's formulaic direction, he makes the very most out of the material. Lucy Boynton doesn't have much to work with besides sporting a perpetual concerned look as Mary Austin until a clumsily executed scene in which she confronts Freddie about his sexuality. Ben Hardy has the honor of playing Roger Taylor, Freddie's one bandmate with dialogue of any consequence in this film. The supporting cast also features Aidan Gillen as band manager John Reid coming off as a very Aidan Gillen character, Allen Leech as Freddie's manipulative evil boyfriend, and Aaron McCusker as Freddie's down-to-earth good boyfriend.
If Bohemian Rhapsody were a term paper on the celebrated band and its legendary frontman, it would have "See me after class" scrawled across the top of it in red. Rami Malek deserves accolades for his uncanny impersonation of Freddie but the film itself is a poor tribute to one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Simply playing Queen's greatest hits in the cinema does not make up for the picture's lack of nuance, depth, and embellishments to simplify the story of a remarkable life.
*Bryan Singer was replaced by Dexter Fletcher when he was fired near the end of principal photography.
FRAGMENTS
- The film began development with Sacha Baron Cohen attached to star as Freddie, but he left the production citing creative differences
- A somewhat jarring in-joke, actor-comedian Mike Myers plays a record producer who doubts that fans would rock out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their cars which is what Mike Myers precisely did in 1992's Wayne's World
007 CONNECTIONS
- Rami Malek (Lyutsifer Safin in No Time To Die)
