Bohemian Rhapsody Review

Queen is one of the most popular rock bands to out of the UK, a band that made hit after hit and their lead singer, Freddy Mercury was a rock and gay icon. After years of development a biopic about the rock band has finally been released.

In 1970 Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek) is a young man who harbours dreams of becoming a songwriter and given an opportunity when a student band loses their lead singer. The band transforms into Queen and quickly become a success, going through many ups-and-downs with Farokh becoming Freddy Mercury.

Bohemian Rhapsody was a troubled production. The film originally began production in 2010 with Sacha Baron Cohen was cast to play the famous musician but left because of creative differences with Brian May. Ben Whishaw and Dexter Fletcher were later linked to star and direct, Anthony McCarten rewrote the screenplay before Bryan Singer was hired to direct. Singer was fired due to rumours about his onset behaviour which led to Dexter Fletcher completing the film.

Bohemian Rhapsody has been met with a mixed critical reaction and there is a reasoning behind it. The film follows a template that similar band films – the band form, find success, troubles slowly boil to the band breaking up and a reconciliation. But this a template being used to tell a deeper story.

Singer is openly bi-sexual and he turned the X-Men film series into a metaphor for gay rights and McCarten has already made two films about important British figure – his previous films focused on Stephen Hawking (The Theory of Everything) and Winston Churchill (Darkest Hour).  This was a sound a dream team to make this film and they came up with three thematic throughlines.

The first theme was about Freddie needing to true to himself. Freddie is from a conservative Parsis family and has a disapproving father. He suffers racist abuse and legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury. I will be honest, for a long time I just assumed he was Caucasian. Freddie was also not true to his sexuality, going out with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton)  and proposes to her because he’s meant to.  Even after Freddie Mercury and Queen find success he falls into casual sex and partying because he was a lost soul.

Freddie’s relationship with Mary is also key to the film. She was Freddie’s girlfriend and fiancé and even after Freddie comes out he does not want the woman out of his life. They share a platonic love and stay close to her even after their break-up and she is one of few people to genuinely look out for Freddie. Freddie even suffers from a bout of jealousy when Mary moves on with her life. Freddie’s coming out scene was one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the film thanks to the power of Malek and Boynton’s performances.

The third theme was the band acted as a surrogate family. They gave Freddie a sense of belonging as they make music. As they grow up the band get married and have children, leaving Freddie behind.  They challenge each other and fight but need each other as well.

Bohemian Rhapsody also looks at the evolution of the band’s music. “A Night at the Opera” was the band’s most expensive album and was seen as ambitious, artistic and indulgent and divided critics, a song like “We Will Rock You” was created so audiences could perform with the band and “Another One Bites the Dust” was written to appeal to a different type of audience. Freddie and Brian May (Gwilym Lee) had a relationship similar to Paul McCarthy and John Lennon as their complicated each other when writing music. Freddie was a natural entertainer and energised the crowd and the film does capture this perfectly. The final medley at Live Aid was utterly fantastic the band some of their greatest hits. This film was my Mamma Mia.

The role of Freddie Mercury was a desired role and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek was eventually cast. Malek gave a terrific performance as the rock star, showing the man’s stage presence, wit and flamboyance. It was a star-making performance for the actor. Gwilyn Lee and Ben Hardy were notable as Brian May and Roger Taylor. Lee looked a lot like the famous guitarist and he acted as the voice of reason when the band suffered tensions whilst Hardy had a more meaty role to his previous role in a Bryan Singer film.

The other notable feature of Bohemian Rhapsody was its humour.  It was a chuckle-worthy film due to Freddie’s sneaky delivery, the arguments within the band, some well-edited moments and deliberate self-aware jokes due to some of its casting.

Despite the troubled production Bohemian Rhapsody was a well-executed film that was a loving tribute to a great band. It was a crowd-pleaser.