Here’s a bit of flashback post I typed up in November after I saw ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. As a Queen fan I thought the film was pretty good.
Alright, I’ve thought about it and I think that if you don’t know much about Queen then ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is perfect. For me personally, I found the storytelling a bit choppy because the timeline was off at parts to create a bigger more dramatic build up to the finale. I would have liked to see more of the “behind the scenes” of the music video shoots, or a few more shots of Freddie’s stage persona from the ground up. The film had an odd balance of following Freddie’s life and Queen’s development, so it came across like it didn’t know which direction it wanted to go in and felt a bit lackluster at parts. They really pushed this “Queen is a family” bit which felt so PG and laughable. I’ve read a book of Freddie quotes and have watched many documentaries/interviews. Queen was very much a business first. But the acting made up for the rushed plot (you’d need a 4 hour film to tell Queen’s story accurately) and the Live Aid scene was everything. Rami Malek nailed Freddie’s exact movements (I’ve watched their Live Aid performance way too many times so I had high expectations). I’d give it an 8/10 overall, 10/10 acting-wise and 12/10 for the amount of cats featured. If you’re simply wanting to be entertained go see it. If you want to learn about Queen’s story watch a documentary for the real deal.