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‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a strong tribute to a troubled artist

As someone who grew up on the music of Queen, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, I was ecstatic when I heard about Bohemian Rhapsody.  It looked like it would be an epic tribute to a legendary band and  Freddie Mercury specifically. After anticipating its release for almost a  year, there had been plenty of time to build up my expectations for the  film. In many ways, this film surprised me, and while it met or  surpassed my expectations in most areas, there were moments where it  definitely did not live up to my standards, detracting from what could  have been a great film.

Incredible performances carry the film

Image from IMDb

If nothing else, this film is worth seeing for the performances  alone. Every single cast member did an amazing job with difficult roles  and the tough job of portraying real people rather than characters. The  cast was led by the absolutely phenomenal performance of Rami Malek as  Freddie Mercury, who carried the film on his back. When actors are  playing real people, it is often difficult to see the real person rather  than viewing it as the actor’s portrayal of them. However, I almost  immediately stopped seeing “Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury” and just saw  Freddie Mercury. It takes an incredible actor to be able to lose  themselves in the role to the point that they are unrecognizable, and  Malek did just that. His performance was moving, troubled, and deeply  human.

Another standout within the cast was Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin,  Mercury’s former fiancé. She had the difficult task of matching Malek’s  energy to portray the extremely complex relationship that Mercury and  Austin shared throughout their lives. She and Malek had wonderful  chemistry and she did a fantastic job portraying the complicated  emotional journey Austin went through as Mercury’s lover and life-long  friend.

A celebration of Mercury and Queen

Image from IMDb

Bohemian Rhapsody is a terrific biopic, but it must be viewed  as such to be enjoyed. If viewers go in expecting a singular, linear  plot line they will probably not enjoy this film. Also, if viewers want  to see a film about Queen as a whole, this probably will not work for  them. However, if people want to see the journey and all the highs and  lows of Freddie Mercury’s strange and fascinating life, then they should  give Bohemian Rhapsody a shot. When looked at through the lens  of a biopic about Mercury specifically, this movie is a huge success. It  shows Mercury at his absolute highest and lowest, portraying him as a  talented but very troubled artist. It also reveals aspects of his life  that most casual Queen fans would not have known about, like his  relationship with Mary, his extravagant parties and his attempt at a  solo career.

The movie is also strong as a musical tribute. It clearly delineates  the different eras of Queen and how their sound and style developed and  changed over time. The sound mixing is also very well done; it is not  very noticeable that Malek is lip-synching, and every number has the  energy and raw emotion of a live performance. Additionally, many of the  transitions in the movie were edited to stylistically resemble many of  Queen’s music videos and their overall “look,” seamlessly immersing the  audience further into the world of Queen and their rock and roll  aesthetic. Also, the recreations of Queen music videos and live  performances were very accurate and the attention-to-detail was clear,  with the exception of the Live Aid audience at the end, which was very  obviously created using CGI. This was an unfortunate choice from the  filmmakers as it took away from one of the most important moments in the  film and distracted the audience from an otherwise incredibly authentic  recreation of the actual event.

Some rough patches

Image from IMDb

Despite incredible performances and strength as a biopic, this movie  still fell flat in several areas. The pacing of the movie was definitely  an issue; with a run time of 2 hours and 14 minutes, viewers could  definitely feel the length. Despite its valiant attempts, Bohemian Rhapsody  never quite reached the point where the audience was so immersed that  they completely lost track of time, which made the film seem to drag on  for unnecessarily long.

Additionally, the pacing of events within the movie was a bit  difficult to follow; there were multiple seemingly random jumps where  the film flashed forward several years without making it clear what had  transpired in the time that was not shown. This was not the only problem  with how the movie was scripted; some moments also felt contrived or  overly cheesy due to the structure of the dialogue rather than the  actors’ performances. Along with the script issues, some of the editing  and cutting of footage was a bit jarring within scenes, particularly  during the Live Aid sequence at the end, which did, unfortunately,  detract from the incredible performance on stage.





Images: IMDb

Featured Image: IMDb

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