Review of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) by Elise M — 06 Nov 2018

While not a 100% factual retelling of the history of Queen and Freddie Mercury, the film thrives off of Queen's rich discography and especially from Rami Malek's fantastic performance (one that deserves an Oscar nomination, but will most likely be overlooked). The definition of this movie is a crowd-pleaser. Critics most likely will not (and do not) enjoy it, but looking at the history of music biopics I was pleasantly surprised.

Bohemian Rhapsody is an interesting film that I found overall enjoyable. The beginning does suffer from some pacing issues due to them wanting to go straight to when Queen wrote A Night at the Opera. However, once it reaches their peak of fame the movie picks up and Malek continues to shine. Another note is how well the cast worked together, I truly enjoyed their dialogue together.

After fired-director Bryan Singer went on a rampage about how the film treated Freddie's sexuality I expected the film to completely ignore it, but I found that not to be true at all. It overall respects his sexuality and his romantic history with Mary, P*ul, and Jim (who I wish we saw more of). For writing important scenes for such a private person I believe the screenwriter did very well, especially with scenes taken from interviews with Mary and Jim.

If you are a fan of Queen, rock music, or just Freddie Mercury you will most likely enjoy this movie. Sit down and enjoy an amazingly strong performance from Rami Malek, great costume recreations, and fantastic music from one of the greatest rock bands in history.