Read Nikki's review of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as Mercury’s lifestyle spirals out of control, and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid, where Mercury, facing a life-threatening illness, leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. In the process, cementing the legacy of a band that were always more like a family, and who continue to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.
Bohemian Rhapsody is in theaters on November 2nd, 2018.
The highly anticipated ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is finally hitting theatres this weekend. There has been speculated Oscar-worthy buzz about this movie before it even came out, which sparked my interest and eagerness to see it. Upon watching the trailers, I assumed this movie would act as a biopic on Freddie Mercury. I was not alive to witness Freddie Mercury and all his glory, so watching a movie explaining his rise to fame, impact on society, and aspects of his life excited me. However, my impression was wrong as this movie places its focus on Queen as a band rather than Freddie Mercury and his life.
The contradictory assertions of the film include a scene in which the band members of Queen talk about not wanting their music to sound traditional and formulaic. As you can tell, their music is far from ordinary but the movie about them is not. It felt like a typical rock biopic formula-the band meets Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), he joins the group, they record music and rise, they eventually experience a large disagreement and fall. Then of course, you guessed it, they rise back up as a band and ROCK!
While the movie does focus on the rise of Queen, it centered on the band creating a song and performing it in full, which to me, made it feel like a very long music video. As much as the audience is taken in the studio with the band creating hits-we don’t learn much on how or why they created their hit songs. The movie does not dig deep enough to provide viewers with a solid understanding of Freddie Mercury, his bandmates, or why they did not have a strong foundation in their relationship.
Though the movie contained some fall-out, there were scenes during this two-hour movie that placed emphasis on Freddie. A lot of those scenes displayed the relationship between Freddie and Mary Austin, which played down on his queerness. This was upsetting to me as he does come out in the movie as bisexual but the movie never conveyed the development of his gay relationships as much as it did with Mary. There was opportunity for the movie to portray how impactful Freddie was during a pivotal time in they gay community yet the film failed to shine light on this matter; which to me, was disappointing.
In all, Rami Malek was the highlight of the movie- he was stunningly amazing! If anything about this movie DID deserve an Oscar, it has to be his performance. He really owned this performance with his electrifying personality, especially when performing the live Aide set in 1985. The whole scene was powerful and emotional; it made the audience feel part of a massive-crowd concert. With that being said, the movie is very fun and enjoyable, if you are a Queen fan, I would check it out this weekend.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Nikki (Contributor) is a Chicago Native who loves watching movies (some definitely more than once). Her favorite genres include Thrillers and Dramas. When she's not at the movies you can most likely find her at a live concert, singing along to a Disney classic or binge watching Netflix.Click Here to check out Nikki's Articles.