REVIEW BY ERIC NEILSON
When you think about rock ’n’ roll legends what comes to mind?
One of the names that should come quickly is Queen. Or more importantly Freddie Mercury. Bohemian Rhapsody is just that story.
Released late last year, the much-anticipated film was an immediate box office smash. Bohemian Rhapsody, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Rami Malek as Mercury, tells the story of the rock band Queen and their rise to fame. The film focuses more on Freddie and how he met the band and helped them succeed in the music business and become the rock ’n’ roll icons that we know as Queen today.
It was an accurate adaptation of their story, and Malek delivered an incredible performance. The film starts with the anticipation of the 1985 Wembley Stadium Live Aid concert, which Freddie Mercury and Queen dominated and is arguably one of the most popular and memorable moments for Queen, not to mention maybe even one of the greatest live band performances of all time. Then, we begin at the beginning seeing “Farrokh” (before he comes Freddie) at his part-time job as an airplane bagger where he is mistreated and must endure being bombarded with racial slurs.
It was very interesting to see how he met the band; although it was a little confusing at how quick it jumps into him joining them and instantly taking control as the leading member. There wasn’t really the best explanation on what he had to do to prove himself he just kind of jumps aboard. Which leads to another minor complaint about the film. Even though it is explained that time is passing we need to see more about how Queen became Queen, maybe where the name originally stems from or some of their earlier gigs at bars or college campuses and see how Freddie interacts with the crowd and see how to crowd warms up to Freddie, as we do see at the beginning that at first glance they were not feeling him.
The final issue with the film is audiences wanted to see more about his relationship with his family, especially with his father. Since the very first scene that we see Freddie and his father, portrayed by Ace Bhatti, there is immediate tension between the two as Freddie has different dreams than what his father wants for him and he doesn’t seem to appreciate his heritage and family history. He seems embarrassed by it which hurts his father, and because of this he is not supportive of his sons dream about becoming a musician. We would have liked to see more of this and how the two eventually reconcile.
Except for adding Hollywood build up, the story is an accurate portrayal and is gripping right from the opening scene. Rami Malek was so good as Mercury that he even took him a best actor award at the Oscars, where Bohemian Rhapsody also won a well-deserved best drama award. Audiences really enjoyed this film and would definitely lineup to see it again, and even more so I would easily recommend to my friends and family to get up and go to see Bohemian Rhapsody. You will not be disappointed. Two thumps way up.
