In the late 1960s, British students Brian May, Tim Staffell, and Roger Taylor formed a small band called Smile. Unfortunately, in 1970, Staffell ended up leaving the group to join the band Humpy Bong. Luckily, a plucky young art student named Farrokh Bulsara was a fan of their music and soon joined the group. Farrokh, preferring to be called Freddy, encouraged them to change their name to Queen and brought on bassist John Deacon. Soon, Farrokh changed his full name to Freddy Mercury, and Queen slowly but surely started to find success. The band released several albums that became major hits, and many of their songs are regarded as the best ever. Even after Freddy Mercury’s death in 1991 from AIDS, Queen is still considered one of the all-time greatest rock bands. Now in 2018, a new Queen biopic has been released named after their most famous song, Bohemian Rhapsody.
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The movie more or less tells the story of Queen’s formation, but mostly focuses on Freddy Mercury (Rami Malek). It goes into how the band got started, Freddy’s relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), and the band’s struggles. The band has their first major success with Bohemian Rhapsody despite objections from EMI executive Ray Foster (Mike Myers). Eventually, Freddy ends up breaking up with Mary once he comes to terms with his homosexuality. As the band continues finding success, tensions start to mount between Freddy and the other band members. Driven largely by ego, Freddy leaves the band to start a solo career only to realize the mistakes he’s made. He also learns that he has contracted AIDS, which leads him to wanting to rejoin Queen and go out strong. Everything ultimately culminates in the band’s iconic performance at Live Aid in 1985.
Ever since I first heard a Queen biopic was being made, I was excited considering my love of classic rock. I was skeptical going in given how movies based on true stories tend to stretch the truth. That being said, I walked out of this movie fairly entertained and impressed at what they were able to do. The first thing I have to talk about is Rami Malek’s amazing performance as Freddy Mercury. He really dives deep into the role and you can tell that he did his homework in capturing Mercury’s mannerisms. The cast overall does a great job and they really looked like the real-life people they were portraying. Given the subject matter, the music is amazing, using songs recorded by Queen as well as the actors. And in terms of historical accuracy, they got a lot of details right, with a few exceptions.
Now, anyone who’s been following this knows of its many production problems, and that ties into some problems it has. First, there’s the fact that original director Bryan Singer was fired after some disagreements on set and extended absences. This led to a new director being hired, who did reshoots and additional post-production, which you can tell in. Throughout the first act especially, much of the story is condensed into montages that conveniently advance time over several years. Also, there was concern that the movie would focus more on Freddy Mercury than on Queen as a whole. While Mercury certainly has a major role, the other bandmates are given ample screen time and contribute quite a lot. Lastly, with this being a PG-13, it feels somewhat watered down, and this could’ve benefitted from an R-rating. Problems aside, Bohemian Rhapsody should please fans and even non-fans of Queen.
