Bohemian Rhapsody

Audience Reviews

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Han R Apr 28, 2019 A fantastic tribute to Queen and Freddie Mecury. Rami Malek absolutely "nails it" for playing Freddie Mecury. A great story line, entertaining though out. See more

Poe R Apr 28, 2019 What a stinking pile of shit this Best Picture nominee is! It was the absolute worst example of a traditional music biopic that I have seen in a long time and having just watched Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) I know that not all of them have to feel as contrived and manipulative as this film. Every part of it from the editing to the performances to the portrayal of Freddie Mercury is rotten and feels as though it has been completely controlled by the surviving members of Queen. You really don't need to see this, if you like Queen and Freddie Mercury watch the footage from Live Aid instead of Malek's pathetic imitation, listen to their large catalogue music or read one of the many acclaimed biographies written about Mercury. We meet Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek, a young, gay Pakistani-British man as he meets Mary Austin, Lucy Boynton, and witnesses Brian May and Roger Taylor performing at a bar before ingratiating himself to them and joining the group. Then almost instantaneous success greets them as we get scenes of his family's very polite disagreement with his alternative lifestyle, representative of the sanitized production of the entire movie. Once he fully embraces his â~gayness' and goes out and releases a solo album, although the band members who shame him in the film had already done this, he becomes a sad and lonely person as treacherous gay Paul Prenter, Allen Leech, draws him deeper into this lifestyle. He is eventually rescued by the arrival of an AIDS diagnosis that forces him to clean up and reunite with the saintly Mary and good gay Jim Hutton, Aaaron McCusker. There is so much I hated about this film that it erred on being a so-bad-it's-good watch but it was too tedious to even be enjoyable in that way. I laughed at initial reports of "straightwashing" I had thought it would be just some trashy journalists looking for a good headline but when I actually watched the movie I was amazed by how it seems to shame Mercury for his sexuality. His time with Mary is seen in a golden light as she is nothing but supportive and loving and it is clear that the company of a woman is far preferable to that of a boorish gay oaf. Conversely, we witness him hooking up with a trucker in a bathroom, dating an â~evil' gay man whilst all his straight friends become boring superior family men and finally gets together with an angelic, personality-less gay man. The difference between the treatment of his relationships with men and his relationship with a woman is stark and displays a painfully homophobic approach to his life. All of the rough edges of his life, the most interesting element of his story, are sanded off almost completely as we are left with a film that tries to completely gloss over the complicated experiences of a troubled human being with scenery-chewing performances. His conflicts with the band contain canned jokes and a complete lack of chemistry between the actors that belies the entire film's lack of real energy or genuine heart. The band's artistic process would have been interesting to explore as they created unique and original songs that surely have interesting stories behind them. I wasn't expecting the joyous focus of Love & Mercy (2014) on artist and the toll that their creative process takes on them but I wanted something more than members of the band repeating key phrases and performing cheesy dance moves. Had they delved deeper into one of the many fascinating elements of Freddie Mercury's life and his professional career the film would have had something to it but without any real depth the film is worthless. Malek's performance shouldn't have been dignified with an Academy Award especially when considering that Willem Dafoe was nominated within his category. Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter was fully deserving of her Best Actress win as she gives a full, rich performance that moves beyond impersonation and becomes a portrait of feminine strength. Malek never moves beyond the impersonation element of playing a famous figure and I never found him to be credible within his role. All of the other performances in the film are terrible, Mike Myers as a fake music producer is particularly irritating, which I hope prevents them from getting future work. Never, ever feel the need to watch this film unless you are a masochist. It's not a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, it's a horrible film that doesn't deserve any of the critical praise it received. See more

Poe M Apr 27, 2019 It's a by-the-numbers biopic which offers a fantastic performance but little that is extraordinary.

Theodore W Apr 27, 2019 As someone who grew up after Mercury had passed, I loved this movie and found it very educational. They told the story of his life very well and did a great job incorporating Queen songs into the movie. And the Live Aid recreation was masterfully done. See more

Apr 26, 2019 Amazing movie & the voice of the man playing Freddy is on point.

Apr 26, 2019 To think that this film got some of the accolades it did (including Best Drama at the Golden Globes) is really sickening, when we had Roma and The Favourite this year. The film's main showcase is its music, which is of course great. But that's the point: the film banks on a long medley playing in Dolby Atmos to get people to enjoy it. When it's not on the concert scenes then, it really just paints Freddie Mercury as a horrible jerk for absolutely no reason at all. We end up with a biopic about a selfish man who loses his grip on the world and angers his bandmates before finding his identity though his music again. So original. So that sounds like a movie like this really doesn't even deserve a review at all. But my one star here is for Queen's music and the acting ensemble, which actually did pretty well. At its center, though, is a stunning performance from Rami Malek, who mixes both a cheerful eccentricity and a painful isolation. He thoroughly deserved his Oscar. See more

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Bohemian Rhapsody

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