Bohemian Rhapsody Stays on Tune, Mostly

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody was a good movie and made sure to include all of your favorite Queen songs, sometimes at the expense of film quality. The highlights of the movie were definitely the performances. Rami Malek does a great job portraying Freddie Mercury and whoever sang the songs did a great job as well. Malek is believable and nails Mercury’s mannerisms, the only problem was that the script didn’t give him much room. For a story about a minority trying to come up from a airport baggage handler to a superstar while being a closeted homosexual, the movie was fairly bland. Everyone acted well, but any scene with emotional weight was brief and not given the time to breathe. The time was diverted to four or five montages backed by Queen’s hits, which could have been shorter to develop some character relationships. The only relationship that is truly explored is that between Malek’s Mercury and Lucy Boynton’s Mary Austin, Mercury’s “love” interest. Their ups and downs were the only real conflict in the movie. There is a clear villain character, and it seemed very exaggerated for the second act, and he is dealt with very abruptly. Even HIV/AIDS was handled very lightly. The movie was much more about the music than it was about the people who made the music. With respect to their music, I much prefer Queen to N.W.A. But with respect to movies about a music group rising to superstardom, facing a breakup, and then having a member die of AIDS, I would rather watch Straight Outta Compton instead of Bohemian Rhapsody. I don’t dislike Bohemian Rhapsody, but it failed in many areas in which others have succeeded. I still loved the performances and will always love the music. I give Bohemian Rhapsody (the movie, not the song, which is perfect) 9 out of 14 weeks that the song stayed at number one on the charts.