Star Cast: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Mike Myers
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Director: Bryan Singer/Dexter Fletcher
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What’s Bad: Bad things for such movies depend on your personal taste, this belongs to a category of films which either you will enjoy wholeheartedly or just disown it, there’s not a midway.
Loo Break: If you’re a Queen fan and asking me this question – I am sorry bro, you aren’t one & if you are not a Queen fan and asking me this question – watch this film as you’ll be one once the end-credits roll!
Watch or Not?: There’s a video on YouTube ‘Queen – Live at LIVE AID’ and with 88 million views it has 710K likes and 22K dislikes – if you’re from those 22,000 people, please don’t watch the film!
User Rating:
The makers have smartly named the film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and not Queen because more than the band, it focuses on the life of its lead singer Farrokh Bulsara who was later known as the legend, Freddie Mercury. The makers opted to go ‘A Star Is Born’ way and start the movie in a choral way with a song. As one expects it takes us to the flashback from where all this started. From meeting the other band members and establishing the group as ‘Queen’, the first half majorly concentrates on the portions in which the band came into prominence.
Freddy, though was an extraordinary performer, had his fair share of flaws and that comes out clearly in the second half. Tackling the thoughts of his sexuality, going through ups and downs with all his relationships, fighting with AIDS and the most important – how he broke up with his band; no matter how much you must be well read about Queen’s story there are a lot of new things waiting for you.
While most of the parts are known to many people but Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan surely pack in certain surprise elements for us. The cockiness of Freddy is magnificently depicted on-screen with the help of some hilarious dialogues. One major flaw of the film is its connect – the first half rushes into few things which fail to create the kind of attachment you expect to have with the band members.
I know the movie is about Freddy but somewhere I felt there was a lot of meat to include regarding the band members. Also, the transition from nothing to everything was partially smooth – I am not sure about was it the same in real life so I’m no one to nitpick this point. There’s a dialogue, “It ruins the mystery if everything’s explained” and that goes very well with the script, some things remains unexplained, that’s the beauty of the film. There are still goosebumps left in me from the epic finale and they will always be there whenever the name Queen will pop up anywhere around me.
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Rami Malek, at first was looking a superficial version of Freddie but once he started adapting his idiosyncrasies, you’ll start believing there could’ve been no one better than him. Nailing every pose, lip-syncing the songs as he’s singing them, feeling what that man has gone through and emoting that pain – Rami has lived Freddie more than acting it.
When it comes to looking like the band members of Queen, Gwilym Lee as Brian May easily takes the cake. Playing the lead guitarist of Queen, Gwilym has looked unbelievably similar to the original. Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin, Freddie’s girlfriend, plays an integral role in shaping his life. The whole “I’m a bisexual – No you’re gay” angle had the depth but somewhere remains half baked because of a rushed script.
Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor (Drummer) and Joseph Mazzello as John Deacon (Bass Guitarist) perfectly fit in their role and have delivered a good performance. Our very own Lord Baelish (Game Of Thrones) Aidan Gillen as John Reid (Queen’s manager) is notable but could’ve got better lines.
Credited director, Bryan Singer (who was replaced by Dexter Fletcher late in the production) has come a long way from The Usual Suspects and X-Men series. He hasn’t been credited because of the sexual-misconduct controversy but he was there for the 85% of the film. There are shades of Dexter Fletcher too which are clearly visible. A superbly directed film lacking at some points at the script level.
Music has to be good for one obvious reason & we all know that by now. Changing the intro music of 20th Century Fox hints at we’re in for something very special. Words aren’t enough to describe what Queen’s music means to us & hence I’ll leave you all to get surprised…yet again with each of their song.
All said and done, Bohemian Rhapsody for some people it will be an emotional orgasm while for those who haven’t been their fans will become one after watching the film. Many people were asking for a time machine to go to the past and attend Queen’s concert once – this film is that machine guys. Go for it!
Four stars!
Bohemian Rhapsody releases on 16th November, 2018.
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