Bohemian Rhapsody – Movie Review

Rating: C

Though he might not have been the first one to come to mind to play the legendary front man, Rami Malek delivers a performance that is ground in vulnerability and yet is voraciously captivating. Malek hurls himself into his transformation into the rock-god, while as well capturing Mercury’s go-for-broke energy and his passion in his showmanship. Malek’s bravado and star-presence all bring Freddie to life even more and give the film an exuberant energy it needs at times.
Bryan Singer directs the concert sequences throughout the film with such a surging energy. With the finale of the film being the legendary Live Aid performance, that I can’t deny gave me goosebumps and chills galore. All of which also comes from the help of the cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel, which captures the scope and emotion of the concerts very well.

This film overall lacks a lot of depth, as it feels all it needs to do is just hit some of the high notes and coast on it’s music. And it came to no shock to me afterwards to see the screenplay was written by Anthony McCarten, a man behind two other very dull biopics (with him writing them they’re probably best refereed to as bio-mush) “Darkest Hour” and “The Theory of Everything”. Both of which along with this film are about as by the numbers as they get. There is even a line from a studio executive in this film (played in a face-in-hand cameo by Mike Myers) where he states “Formulas work. We like formulas.”, which encapsulates this film pretty well. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a film with a strong electric performance at it’s center, in Rami Malek, but it’s too bad the film around him is a jumbled airbrushed by the numbers music biopic.
This film as well features multiple eyerolling moments, that I rather not punish you with the corniness.
I will also add that yes this film is “based” on a true story and there should always be room for dramatic license. But “based” is putting it very lightly here if you know the true story, so please take this film with a grain of salt when it comes to the facts, as this film takes the term of dramatic license to an extreme that’s completely distasteful.