Rent Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Wonderful Music - Bohemian Rhapsody review by JD

I approached this dvd wareilly, but ended up loving it.

The music is wonderful, as is the acting , especially by Rami Malic who deserved his BAFTA and OSCAR awards.

The cgi is amazing, showing a full Wembley Stadium and an unforgettable sweeping tracking shot from above, ending up over the heads of the audience and ending on stage.

Yes it is played a little soft on the drugs and gay issue, but the film is all the better for it, allowing the intelligence of the viewer to fill in the gaps.

Great performances, great music - Bohemian Rhapsody review by CP Customer

Rami Male rightly gets loads of plaudits, although for me he never quite seems to get used to those teeth! The supporting cast did probably even better as they had less to work with. And of course, the music is just outstanding. The Live Aid set piece was masterfully done.

Lots of fun and moving at times.

Historical and PC Criticism aside, this is a really good movie! - Bohemian Rhapsody review by CS

Having read so much negative criticism of this film and then it winning so many awards at the Oscars, I was unsure what to expect from this. Supposedly a biog of Freddie Mercury, but coming across much more as a marketing exercise for the band, in order to boost record sales. The film concentrates far too heavily on Freddie’s (mostly platonic) friendship with Mary, strongly suggesting that he was heterosexual or at least bisexual, but even as Mary herself says in the film “no Freddie, you’re Gay”! The Social and Religious cultural group that his family come from were and still are notoriously homophobic, yet this is never mentioned in the film, instead choosing to concentrate on the persecution they allegedly received from, but it’s never actually mentioned (Muslims) during the partition of India! A lot of the films allegedly historical events are taken out of time and context and the musical chronology is all over the place, placing songs such as ‘Crazy Little Thing called love’ and the Jazz album, literally five years before their time! Which gets slightly confusing if you actually lived through these times and experienced the development of the band first hand as a fan or simply as someone living through it all! No mention is made either of the time when Queen were allegedly ripped off by their management, something which the song ‘Death on Two Legs’ is purportedly about, so some of the less savoury experiences of the band are skipped over. This film has received heavy criticism for not being a true reflection of Freddie’s life and for pandering to PC tastes and one does get the impression that much has been watered down and heterosexualised, in order not to offend and to cater for certain geographical, religious and political markets! As a result if you see this film as an honest biography of both the band and Freddie, you will be very disappointed, because a faithful biography it very clearly is not, and some of the political correctness does get in the way of telling a good story, as seems to be the norm for many films nowadays! However if you see it as simply a rock n roll film about a band who make the big time, then it is hugely entertaining and the soundtrack really does move things along very nicely. I was surprised at what a good film this actually is, casting all critique aside, Malek turns in quite a good if not slightly watered down, version of Freddie, but really is the only main character in the whole movie, with literally everybody else just playing as side kicks. Mary is quite prominent throughout and in many ways it is she who appears to be falsely portrayed as the real victim in all of this, in fact sometimes rather sickeningly so, whilst very little emphasis is placed upon Freddie’s sexuality and the real issues that he faced as a result. The allegedly notorious sex parties and over the top drama that he was well known for are virtually non existent, however there is no denying that Freddie Mercury was one of, it not the Greatest Showman of the 20th Century! Allegedly one of the biggest grossing films of the year, this gives clarity on why certain aspects were possibly downplayed, in order to create a more commercial and sellable formula! So casting any scepticism aside and not taking itself too seriously, with the occasional humorous moment, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable if not slightly confusing romp through the 70’s and 80’s history of Rock N roll a la Queen!

Despite Malek's genius performance, this is a turgid, bland & (worst of all) boring biopic - Bohemian Rhapsody review by TB

Freddie Mercury was a complete one-off: a stunning, staggeringly gifted musician & performer, outstanding vocalist & one of the best entertainers the world will ever have. Many of Queen's songs are still as popular today as they were when released, perfectly written & performed. But, particularly during his lifetime, very little was actually known about Mercury, driven primarily by him & his fanatical privacy. Stories/rumours would be published, but never confirmed. So, in other words, the perfect subject for a biopic.

But, this film has many many flaws alongside it's great parts. The main one by a country mile is how safe & sanitised this film is, which is in every way the polar opposite of Mercury the man. There is no doubt that the main reason for this is due to the extensive creative control that the remaining members of Queen had over production, controlling not only pretty much every element of the film, but also the rights to the songs. There would be no way to make a Freddie biopic without the music he created, and by extension of that, by controlling the rights, the band members could shape the film they wanted.

There was an infamous example of this early on in the gestation of this film many years ago, when Sacha Baron Cohen was cast as Mercury & wanted to make a no-holds barred, totally extreme biopic, showing the many outrageous sides of Freddie as well as his sexuality. But for many reasons, one probably being the backlash of many of Queen's fans not liking to see this extreme representation of gay life, Baron Cohen & the band fell out, the film stalling for years.

By the time it finally came to fruition & was shot with Malek in the lead role, the film had changed to what it is now: fairly rote, a bit bland & despite flashes of brilliance, nothing ever more than mediocre. There are some good parts, particularly the fleshing out of Mercury's incredibly close bond & love for Mary Austin, who was first his girlfriend then best friend. But despite some good performances from the cast, Malek is in many ways the only one who comes out of this really well. It is just a bit "meh" and I wanted & expected so much more.

Yes the music is great, hence the 3 stars, but especially when comparing this to Rocketman, released around the same time, there is so much here lacking. Yes, it was warmly received by many, but it could have been so much more.

Irreplaceable Freddie - Bohemian Rhapsody review by CP Customer

Great film. Yes, some of the chronology is off and some reviewers criticize the face that the is film not completely true to life, but if it had been, it would never have got to the cinema without massive censorship- no XXX certificates!

This was a celebration of Freddie and Queen's music, and was an entertaining, and yes, sanitized view of Freddie's life. With the other members of Queen having to agree to the content, it was never going to be anything else. It was the music that mattered, and that was the point of the film. The acting was spot-on and I never thought anyone could get so near to portraying the larger-than life Freddie - a triumph.

Nothing special here, move along please - Bohemian Rhapsody review by RCO

Sometimes a film based on a true story can make you like, or see its subject in a different light. Although I knew, and sort of liked, all the anthemic songs and thought Bohemian Rhapsody the song was quite clever at the time, I was never a 'fan' of the band, I never owned any of their records or saw them live. 

This film version does nothing to change my opinion of the band and its singer as nothing special. Yes they play well and FM is a good singer (I think the actor is generally miming to original recordings?). We see them get a very easy ride to stardom by falling into the hands of a good A&R man and an honest manager rather than the usual rogues.  We see mostly performances on stadium stages and little or nothing of any struggle to achieve stardom with artistic integrity intact - maybe there was none. We see the lead singer as a narcissistic self-indulgent exhibitionist who manages to dominate and manipulate those around him, and not in any way as an real person - maybe he was like that.

As a movie it is competently made and executed. The montage scene of a US tour is a bit cheap and rubbish but aside from that it is well done. If you delve into the online comments there are loads of quibbles about the chronology - but those you need to accept as necessary to compress key events into a coherent 2hr narrative. There are also lots of factual errors and anachronisms in the settings - but those you need to accept for a film made 40 years after the events it portrays.

At the end of the day it is a creative representation of its subject and not a documentary. As such it is probably quite good if you were a fan of the band and can live with the quibbles, but a waste of time if they were just some ok soundtrack music to your younger life. If you are too young to remember them it might give you a flavour of why people liked them - they created anthems for mass performance.

A Very Enjoyable Film - Bohemian Rhapsody review by KW

The persona of Freddie Mercury was always going to be difficult to get right in a film version and all credit to Rami Malek for his portrayal, whether it was in any way accurate I don't know but it served the film well. Full credit also to rest of the cast and crew in bringing off what is a very good thought provoking film.