Review of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) by Kevin P — 29 Jan 2019

Strengths: Thereâ(TM)s a reason Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury) has been sweeping all the awards for Best Lead Actor. He gives an incredible performance. Mercury is a hard person to nail down because heâ(TM)s so iconic and known for a lot of his mannerisms and such. Malek nails them all without ever going overboard. Itâ(TM)s scary how good he is in this. The rest of the band also benefitted from pitch perfect casting. Gwllym Lee (Brian May), Ben Hardy (Roger Taylor), and Joe Mazzello (John Deacon) are all phenomenal. Lucy Boynton (Mary Austin) isnâ(TM)t someone Iâ(TM)ve seen often, but sheâ(TM)s great here. The movie moves along briskly, allowing us to see the meat of Mercuryâ(TM)s time with Queen rather than spending too much time on some other, less important story beats. I appreciated the way some facts were altered to make for a better, tighter movie. A lot of this film feels like a giant concert and those scenes are well done. It feels like a real show, with the actors doing great and the camera work being top notch.

Weaknesses: Though I appreciated how some less important stuff was left out, the movie does move too quickly. Theyâ(TM)re maybe 25 minutes in and Freddie has already joined the band, met the girl, changed his name, and gotten signed. I thought the lip synching was seriously off and distracting at points. I understand that Malek couldnâ(TM)t belt out Queen songs like Mercury, but there were times when the synching was so off that you could tell it wasnâ(TM)t him and that took away from the moment. It hits many familiar biopic beats, only intercutting them with performances.

Overall: A very enjoyable film, but one that feels more like a rock concert than an actual movie. Still, itâ(TM)s a lot of fun and the acting, particularly from Malek, is outstanding and does more than enough to make this a great time.