Review of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) by Devin S — 12 Nov 2018

While serving its purpose as a fun musical flashback to one of the greatest bands of its generation, Bohemian Rhapsody fails in its telling of Freddie Mercury's origin story.

While the film focuses almost exclusively on the production and releases of Queen's greatest hits, it takes the tone of a young adult b-movie comedy, cramming in one liners and silly references anywhere it can. Mercury's life was one of great passion and symbolism that inspired the youth of a generation much like The Beatles did before them. Bohemian Rhapsody barely scratches the surface of this inspiration, scraping together grossly fictionalized moments of his homosexual lifestyle before tactlessly returning to the grandiose musical scenes which they only appear to care about.

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury however, is a force to be reckoned with as one of the most convincing portrayals of this year, beautifully conveying to the screen who Mercury was and why he stands as an icon so powerful to this day, despite the lack of a compelling script. The portrayals of the other three band members were sufficiently acted, yet like so much of the film, drowned in cheesy lines and propagandized stories of the band's bombastic recording career.

Bohemian Rhapsody is a fun movie to listen to, but falls short in it's storytelling, appearing to be a Queen advertisement, not the nitty-gritty tell all we were hoping for.