BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (2018) *** ½

Bryan (X-Men) Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody is an unabashed celebration of Queen, their music, and their legacy.  Fans will undoubtedly enjoy it as a trip down memory lane, as a feast for the eyes and ears, and a dynamic showcase for its star, Rami Malik.  Singer famously got fired before movie was still filming and Dexter (Eddie the Eagle) Fletcher was brought in to finish it.  Whatever the drama behind the scenes was, the finished product is rather seamless.

The weakest aspects of the film are the scenes that fall into your typical biopic trappings.  The family drama with Freddie Mercury (Malik) seeking his father’s approval don’t really add dimension to his character and the scenes of the band’s meteoric rise curiously lack sizzle.  These scenes just feel like the screenwriter is checking off clichés for the standard biopic formula.  In the movie’s defense (and in Freddie’s defense too), he states he only really feels alive when he’s performing.  So, if some of the dramatics in between the showstopping numbers seem rote, then the movie comes by it honestly.  

If you wanted Bohemian Rhapsody to delve deep into Freddie’s personal life, you might be a tad letdown.  Some have accused the filmmakers of skirting around Mercury’s homosexuality, but what I found interesting is that it only deals with his sexuality head-on when he himself begins to deal with it (which is when the film is almost over).  If it seems the movie is brushing aside his sexuality, it’s only because he is brushing it aside also.  The remarkable thing is, once he fully embraces himself for who he is, the picture really takes off.  The Live Aid finale is particularly rousing and it’s one of the best sequences you’ll see all year.

Malik is magnetic, and his performance keeps you enthralled over whatever narrative hiccups occur.  The other band members are well cast too.  Surprising, they aren’t pushed to the background in favor of giving Mercury more screen time.  This is a movie about Queen after all, and like the scenes where they squabble over who gets whose song on the album, they step up and vie for their well-earned screen time.  

One thing that I just have to mention is that the film completely skips over the fact that Queen did the soundtrack to Flash Gordon.  I mean how can you make a Queen movie and have nary a mention of Flash Gordon?  They even go so far to play “Who Wants to Live Forever”, the song from Highlander, but not “Flash”?  What the hell?  Half-Star deduction for that bullshit.