Movie Review – Bohemian Rhapsody
The shortest answer to that question is VERY MUCH. After I was finally able to watch the movie, I can safely say it is one of the best for this year and maybe the best biopic one I’ve ever seen. Although there are several differences between the movie and the real life of Freddie, the movie runtime is still above 2 hours. I suppose, that if they decided to do everything by the book, we would’ve sat through the new Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The movie opens with the band, entering the stadium of Wembley, which is one of their last live concerts, before the death of Freddie Mercury. In that concert, Queen manages to inspire over a billion people to sing along the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. After that, the story takes us back to his younger years, before he became a hit across the world. It shows how a simple, not very good looking boy can become the Queen of rock, forming one of the greatest bands of the 70’s.
The whole movie is a pallet of emotions, engulfed in the music of the band. Almost all songs of the OST are from the albums of Queen. Some of them we hear, are performed partly by by Rami Malek himself. Speaking of actors, the part of Freddie Mercury is performed by Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Night at the museum, Need for speed. Twilight, 24, etc), who resembles the star in an uncanny way, adding just one prosthetic to complete the character. However, he was not the first choice for the part.
In the first version of the movie, the part of Freddie was supposed to be played by Sacha Baron Cohen (The Dictator, Ali G, Bruno, etc) and the members of Queen had to make several cameos. In the first script, the story was intended to be much more focused on Freddie’s private life. It included the parties, the drugs and the men surrounding him. For some reason, though, this version of the script was scrapped and replaced with a more soft view, mainly focusing on the band’s achievements. That forced Sacha to leave the production. However, even with the changes, the movie is still one of the most emotional biopic movies ever made, telling the story of the homosexual superstar in the 70’s and the 80’s.
The rest of the cast is also very impressive. Lucy Boynton plays, the only female love of Freddie, Mary Austin, which despite him turning out gay, was still a big part of his life and stood besides him until the end. Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy and Joseph Mazzello play the other band members and their chemistry with Rami’s Freddie is just amazing (you can recognize them from many popular movies and tv shows). I can also say that it was a pleasure to watch Aidan Gillen, as he portrayed the band agent, John Reid (you know the actor as Petyr Baelish from GOT) and even Mike Myers as their first producer, Ray Foster.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this movie, fulfilled all my expectations and even more. Despite the rework and toning it down, you can still feel every emotion and live it, as Freddie does. The third act is mostly taken by the band performing on Wembley and it literally sends chills down your spine. Exiting the theater, there wasn’t a single person, unaffected by the movie. I was hardly able to keep my emotions, myself. With rating of 8.4 on IMDB and 94% (viewers) on Rotten Tomatoes you just can’t be disappointed by it. The performance of Rami is almost perfect. I strongly recommend it, whether or not you’re a fan of Queen, because after you watch the movie you will most likely become one. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
