"Bohemian Rhapsody" Review - A Movie That Won't Live Forever

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is just okay. But the fact that it’s okay disappoints me a lot. This film has gone through so much production hell and to think all this production hell was run by the original members of Queen. After all that, this is the best they could put out. What a disservice to Freddie and the overall band.

Queen is easily one of my favorite bands ever, and Freddie Mercury is up there with Billy Joel and Paul McCartney as one of the most inspirational singers to me as a singer. To their best like Under Pressure and Fat Bottomed Girls, to their lesser known hits like Love of my Life and Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, their energy both as songwriters and performers have moved me throughout my entire life. It should be easy to make a film about the history of Queen, right? At least that’s what I thought. So what went wrong?

For one thing, the script is absolutely lazy. The plot just rushes through most of the early career and the height of their fame, and doesn’t go deep into what made them big in the first place. The words on paper feel as childish as some of the montage graphics that are used, and on top of that, the editing of this movie makes the screenplay even more of a strange work. They basically glance over parts I want to know more about, and the ending Live Aid performance takes up the last 45 minutes of the film (however some moments of the Live Aid performance are so magical). It all makes for a very unevenly paced movie that doesn’t really know what’s most important to get into. It also doesn’t help that this movie is PG-13, which is what Freddie Mercury was absolutely NOT. The only part that makes this film somewhat worthwhile is Rami Malek. His transformation into Freddie Mercury and his dedication to making the most of a so-so screenplay is guaranteed to get him an Oscar nod if not a full out win or sweep of the awards season.

What “Bohemian Rhapsody” tries to stress is that Queen is not one member, it’s a family. If that’s the kind of movie Brian May and Roger Taylor wanted, then I support their decision. But there were just so many better ways this movie could’ve been handled. It may not have been perfect, it may have been rated R, but at least you’d be giving the people what they want to see and maybe even give the people something they didn’t know they really needed. Hopefully we get a film that does more justice later in the future.

Neutral Nebs