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Bohemian Rhapsody A Review
Nov. 2nd, 2018 09:44 pm Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
-Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddy Mercury
Honestly there are no spoilers to be had if you know your Queen and Freddy Mercury trivia.
I was a little late to Queen joining in with “A Night at the Opera” and then going back for the previous albums. My first encounter was with them was “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the radio.
Before seeing the film I read about concerns people had with whether they were going to whitewash Freddy Mercury’s origins or his sexuality or how he died.
This is a bio picture and not a bio picture at the same time. It is bookended with the performance at Live Aid that they apparently filmed the whole thing then used about 15 of the 20 minutes of the performance. It is the fantasy of Queen with a dose of reality tossed in.
Not a perfect picture but is a brilliant piece of cinema. Considering all it went through including the firing of the director a little more than half way through, it holds together.
Most of it rests on the shoulders of Rami Malek who does an incredible job of being Freddy Mercury. He manages that twinkle in his eye that was so much part of Freddy’s performance. He looks like he is having fun. But he also plays the pain of being the ‘other’ as Freddy so often felt he was. Other because of where he was from and what he believed and who he loved. I believe him as Freddy.
Gwilym Lee looked and moved like Brian May. It was kind of scary at times.
The other band members are portrayed well.
But this film rises and falls on Mr. Malek.
The music is of course Queen so it is going to be good in my book.
How Bohemian Rhapsody came together is a fun scene.
How the band was formed and rose to stardom is not over done.
Most of this film are things you already knew about the band including Freddy’s proclivities. His relationship with Mary Austin which was most of his adult life and a strange tale in itself. He calls himself bi in the film but Mary says no that he was gay. He disputed that because he loved her. Yes he did sleep around and make some spectacularly bad choices in doing that. And he paid the ultimate price for that.
They do make Paul Prenter the villain of the piece which, depending on who you read, he was to many people.
I do like that Mr. Malek played the stage version of Freddy Mercury and private version very different but according to Mr. Mercury’s friends that was how he was. Introvert in his personal life and an extrovert on stage.
I think there is enough here that the large screen would help with the scope of the film.
I do know that my Queen CDs came out of the pile and are now being played again.
If you like Queen, this is worth your time.
And good luck figuring out who Mike Myers is playing. It took me a bit to figure it out and he has the best line for him to say in the whole piece creating a big ol’ piece of Meta.
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
-Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddy Mercury
Honestly there are no spoilers to be had if you know your Queen and Freddy Mercury trivia.
I was a little late to Queen joining in with “A Night at the Opera” and then going back for the previous albums. My first encounter was with them was “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the radio.
Before seeing the film I read about concerns people had with whether they were going to whitewash Freddy Mercury’s origins or his sexuality or how he died.
This is a bio picture and not a bio picture at the same time. It is bookended with the performance at Live Aid that they apparently filmed the whole thing then used about 15 of the 20 minutes of the performance. It is the fantasy of Queen with a dose of reality tossed in.
Not a perfect picture but is a brilliant piece of cinema. Considering all it went through including the firing of the director a little more than half way through, it holds together.
Most of it rests on the shoulders of Rami Malek who does an incredible job of being Freddy Mercury. He manages that twinkle in his eye that was so much part of Freddy’s performance. He looks like he is having fun. But he also plays the pain of being the ‘other’ as Freddy so often felt he was. Other because of where he was from and what he believed and who he loved. I believe him as Freddy.
Gwilym Lee looked and moved like Brian May. It was kind of scary at times.
The other band members are portrayed well.
But this film rises and falls on Mr. Malek.
The music is of course Queen so it is going to be good in my book.
How Bohemian Rhapsody came together is a fun scene.
How the band was formed and rose to stardom is not over done.
Most of this film are things you already knew about the band including Freddy’s proclivities. His relationship with Mary Austin which was most of his adult life and a strange tale in itself. He calls himself bi in the film but Mary says no that he was gay. He disputed that because he loved her. Yes he did sleep around and make some spectacularly bad choices in doing that. And he paid the ultimate price for that.
They do make Paul Prenter the villain of the piece which, depending on who you read, he was to many people.
I do like that Mr. Malek played the stage version of Freddy Mercury and private version very different but according to Mr. Mercury’s friends that was how he was. Introvert in his personal life and an extrovert on stage.
I think there is enough here that the large screen would help with the scope of the film.
I do know that my Queen CDs came out of the pile and are now being played again.
If you like Queen, this is worth your time.
And good luck figuring out who Mike Myers is playing. It took me a bit to figure it out and he has the best line for him to say in the whole piece creating a big ol’ piece of Meta.
