Bohemian Rhapsody

Richard Kirk 6/23/2021 3:58:16 PM 8.4

Bohemian Rhapsody is not a biography of Freddie Mercury, nor a biopic of Queen. It's a story based on a selection of key events occurring between the formation of the band and their appearance at Live Aid. As a Queen fan I found this film utterly engrossing and enjoyable. The acting brilliantly invokes the characters in the band and the music provides a thumping rhythm to carry the story along. Queen aficionados may be affronted by the out of sequence music performances and the highly selective approach to the story telling but if you can see past that, you'll enjoy a storming film with a spine-tingling conclusion as the Live Aid performance is brilliantly recreated.

Martha 7/26/2022 2:24:00 PM 8.4

Rami was beyond superb at bringing the light that was Freddie to life again. I almost couldn't tell the difference. It was so well done. Perfection. I wish all real life bio-pics could be as heartwarming, heartbreaking, and fun as this. We miss and love you Freddie.

Filipe Manuel Neto 11/22/2023 6:36:18 PM 8.4

**A good film about one of the great rock bands of the 20th century.** This is one of those films that was made with the fans of a personality in mind, more than the rest of the public. This, however, is not exactly a problem in my eyes, it is rather a characteristic of this film, common to other biographical films that are centered on very popular figures such as sportsmen, musicians or others. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film covers the journey of the notable rock band “Queen” and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury, who immortalized himself with memorable performances and a sense of stage and spectacle that only big stars possess. Mercury was also notable for being one of the first major superstars to openly embrace his homosexuality and die of AIDS. As a biography, it is a very acceptable film and, as far as I was able to understand, it respects the essential aspects of the lives and artistic path of those concerned. Of course, being a film about a rock band, we cannot ignore the soundtrack, where we have the band's most famous and recognizable songs, and we can see a reenactment of the famous live performance they did at “Live Aid” in 1985, a one of the most acclaimed live musical performances ever in rock history. Obviously, the film was fated to financial success and, without any major surprises, and after weeks of advertising investment, it found great support from the public and became one of the biggest box office successes of that year. Critics also had no major objections and the film arrived at the Oscars as one of the favorites: out of a total of five nominations, it won four statuettes (Best Actor, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing) losing only for Best Film. In fact, in addition to the good songs and good script, the film offers us one of the best performances by Rami Malek, an actor who couldn't be better suited for the role of Freddie Mercury. In addition to all the physical similarities that he took advantage of to embody the character, he managed to interpret him in a dignified and respectful way, without transforming “his” Freddie into a kind of cheap imitation of the real person. However, as I watched the film, I couldn't help but feel that Malek was the only one in the scene who deserved the spotlight, and that the film lacked an equally good supporting cast that would give some charisma to the remaining band members, transformed into in extras in a story where only Mercury was taken into consideration.