Freddie Mercury is perhaps, without question, the most famous, beloved performer of all time. From his iconic moustache to unparalleled live performance skills, the Queen frontman's legacy has endured - and will continue to endure - for years to come. That a biographical film has taken twenty-seven years to come to our screens is somewhat surprising, but it has been in production now, in various forms, for almost a decade now. Long-awaited, Bohemian Rhapsody tells the extraordinary story of a rock legend - but its execution is far from extraordinary.
During the early 1970s, aspiring songwriter Farrokh Bulsara forms a rockband alongside his new friends Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. With support from his girlfriend Mary Austin, an attention-grabbing band name and a redefined identity, Freddie Mercury leads Queen to become one of the biggest rock bands the world has ever seen, culminating in a career-high performance at Live Aid that will go down in music history.
When Bohemian Rhapsody works, it excels. Undeniably entertaining and, even clocking in at a bloated 134-minute runtime, there's never really a dull moment, kept relatively light and frothy for its duration. Punctuated by hits and frequented by electrifying crowd set pieces, it is best when Queen's biggest and best are given the live treatment - including that concluding Live Aid stretch. Capturing the scale of their success in a poignant display of the band's influence, it confirms - for anyone foolish enough to have a doubt - that they were truly one of a kind.
With a superb, career-defining performance from Rami Malek at the centre, Bohemian Rhapsody is greatly lifted by Malek's ability to completely lose himself in Mercury. Utterly compelling and transfixing throughout, he captures not only Freddie's physicality but his spirit too, imbuing his transformative turn with an irresistible charm. He convinces in both the dramatic scenes and those tinged with a comedic edge, throwing himself into the performance to stunning effect. The rest of the cast isn't up to much, all serviceable but nothing superlative, with no one able to come remotely close to matching Malek's magnetism. This is a one-man show - but what a man to lead the chorus.
Despite the bells and whistles though, it's to cover up a depressing lack of depth in Anthony McCarten's screenplay. Isn't it ironic that my overwhelming feeling when the credits rolled, besides an intense need to foot-tap along to "Don't Stop Me Now", was frustration? A frustration with the way the film so poorly handles its thematic content - namely, Mercury's sexuality and the inflammatory portrayal of male promiscuity - which considerably hindered my enjoyment of the overall piece. It left me bitter and incredibly disappointed that such an unconventional, pioneering man's fire was diminished for the sake of a more crowd-pleasing, surface-level-only picture that feels strangely ingenuine and inauthentic. It's glossy and shallow, an empty spectacle that could, should and would have been so much more.
Even pushing the film's rocky production history to one side, credited director Bryan Singer's Bohemian plays it incredibly safe. It takes almost no risks, playing it so straightforward; for a man who was anything but, this is a decidedly ordinary biopic. Complete with some clunky dialogue - a particular conversation on consent is particularly iky given the controversy that surrounds it - and some bizarre transitions and editing, it's far from the smoothest experience.
Entertaining yet hollow, the power of Bohemian Rhapsody lies with the extraordinary man at the heart of its story - and the man who brings him to life - not the disappointingly sanitised, safe and shallow filmmaking efforts and the troubling (some may argue, homophobic) depictions of Freddie's homosexual relationships which are vilified as the thing that killed him (opposed to the virus that ultimately took his life). As the lyrics to "Who Wants To Live Forever?" carries on through my head and my annoyance grew, I couldn't help but wish Mercury's legacy lived on in a stronger film.
Summary: Bohemian Rhapsody is propelled by Rami Malek's electrifying lead performance and the film's crowd-based sequences but those hoping for more than surface-level enjoyment may be disappointed by this shallow, problematic and rather ordinary biopic for a man who was anything but.
During the early 1970s, aspiring songwriter Farrokh Bulsara forms a rockband alongside his new friends Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. With support from his girlfriend Mary Austin, an attention-grabbing band name and a redefined identity, Freddie Mercury leads Queen to become one of the biggest rock bands the world has ever seen, culminating in a career-high performance at Live Aid that will go down in music history.
When Bohemian Rhapsody works, it excels. Undeniably entertaining and, even clocking in at a bloated 134-minute runtime, there's never really a dull moment, kept relatively light and frothy for its duration. Punctuated by hits and frequented by electrifying crowd set pieces, it is best when Queen's biggest and best are given the live treatment - including that concluding Live Aid stretch. Capturing the scale of their success in a poignant display of the band's influence, it confirms - for anyone foolish enough to have a doubt - that they were truly one of a kind.
With a superb, career-defining performance from Rami Malek at the centre, Bohemian Rhapsody is greatly lifted by Malek's ability to completely lose himself in Mercury. Utterly compelling and transfixing throughout, he captures not only Freddie's physicality but his spirit too, imbuing his transformative turn with an irresistible charm. He convinces in both the dramatic scenes and those tinged with a comedic edge, throwing himself into the performance to stunning effect. The rest of the cast isn't up to much, all serviceable but nothing superlative, with no one able to come remotely close to matching Malek's magnetism. This is a one-man show - but what a man to lead the chorus.
Despite the bells and whistles though, it's to cover up a depressing lack of depth in Anthony McCarten's screenplay. Isn't it ironic that my overwhelming feeling when the credits rolled, besides an intense need to foot-tap along to "Don't Stop Me Now", was frustration? A frustration with the way the film so poorly handles its thematic content - namely, Mercury's sexuality and the inflammatory portrayal of male promiscuity - which considerably hindered my enjoyment of the overall piece. It left me bitter and incredibly disappointed that such an unconventional, pioneering man's fire was diminished for the sake of a more crowd-pleasing, surface-level-only picture that feels strangely ingenuine and inauthentic. It's glossy and shallow, an empty spectacle that could, should and would have been so much more.
Even pushing the film's rocky production history to one side, credited director Bryan Singer's Bohemian plays it incredibly safe. It takes almost no risks, playing it so straightforward; for a man who was anything but, this is a decidedly ordinary biopic. Complete with some clunky dialogue - a particular conversation on consent is particularly iky given the controversy that surrounds it - and some bizarre transitions and editing, it's far from the smoothest experience.
Entertaining yet hollow, the power of Bohemian Rhapsody lies with the extraordinary man at the heart of its story - and the man who brings him to life - not the disappointingly sanitised, safe and shallow filmmaking efforts and the troubling (some may argue, homophobic) depictions of Freddie's homosexual relationships which are vilified as the thing that killed him (opposed to the virus that ultimately took his life). As the lyrics to "Who Wants To Live Forever?" carries on through my head and my annoyance grew, I couldn't help but wish Mercury's legacy lived on in a stronger film.
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
(5/10)