Rent Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
3.9 of 5 from 1523 ratings
2h 9min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Bohemian Rhapsody is an enthralling celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history's most beloved entertainers. Following Queen's meteoric rise, their revolutionary sound and Freddie's solo career, the film also chronicles the band's reunion, and one of the greatest performances in rock history.
- Actors:
- Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers, Aaron McCusker, Meneka Das, Ace Bhatti, Priya Blackburn, Dermot Murphy, Dickie Beau, Tim Plester, Jack Roth, Max Bennett, Felipe Bejarano, Neil Fox-Roberts
- Directors:
- Bryan Singer
- Producers:
- Jim Beach, Graham King
- Writers:
- Anthony McCarten, Peter Morgan
- Others:
- Newton Thomas Sigel, John Ottman, Graham King, John Warhurst, John Casali, Mark Coulier, Paul Massey, Jan Sewell, Tim Cavagin, Julian Day, Nina Hartstone
- Aka:
- Untitled Freddie Mercury Biopic
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Drama, Music & Musicals
- Collections:
- 2019, A Brief History of Singer Biopics, A History of Gay Cinema: According to Hollywood, Award Winners, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2023, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024, Bond Villains: The Connery Years, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Drama Films & TV, Oscar Nominations Competition 2023, Oscar Nominations Competition 2024
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 04/03/2019
- Run Time:
- 129 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.39:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- The Complete Live Aid Film Performance (Not Seen in Cinemas)
- Rami Malek: Becoming Freddie
- The Look and Sound of Queen
- Recreating Live Aid
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 04/03/2019
- Run Time:
- 129 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.39:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- The Complete Live Aid Film Performance (Not Seen in Cinemas)
- Rami Malek: Becoming Freddie
- The Look and Sound of Queen
- Recreating Live Aid
- Theatrical Trailers
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Reviews (21) of Bohemian Rhapsody
A Great Biopic which Wisely Focuses on Songs and Performance at Live Aid 1985 - Bohemian Rhapsody review by PV
This film is bookended with the performance at Live Aid on July 13th 1985 where Queen stole the show - and the record sales doubled afterwards. The only thing that jars is the CGI rewriting of history making the audience 10-20% black. It wasn't. It was almost exclusively white, as were Queen fans in general. I am not sure Freddie (a pale-skinned Persian ancestry) was ever called the P word on stage either. Those untruths grate as history does NOT need changing according to pc diversity box-ticking criteria, thank you.
One review I read complained about the film ending there and not examining Freddie's battle against AIDS - but that would be another movie.
This is expertly directed by Brian Singer, and real events are merged or concertina-ed to fit character arcs and plot points - so we have the obligatory down phase before the final triumph.
I thought the acting was brilliant, esp the actor playing Freddie and also Brian May whose motherly fussiness the actor gets off down to a tee.
Freddie's shy innocence and fickle character is well-portrayed too, as is the relationship with Mary Austin who he left the bulk of his estate too at 1 Logan Place London.
This is, in short, great entertainment about a unique band whose members wrote superb songs (at least in the 1970s).
5 stars.
7 out of 12 members found this review helpful.
As predicted. - Bohemian Rhapsody review by NC
Having been there before, during, and after, and brother involved with all the 60's music industry, film is as thought it would be. Patronising, vague watercolour, with an apologetic Fred. He was far from that, especially in his second YMCA personna. He was very dynamic, full-on, and bit like Steve Martin with Bilko, was totally unique.........signifying he cannot be copied! Malic looks and sounds a bit like him.......is that Oscar standard acting?
Brother used to tell me a lot of the goings-on in the day, from about 1959 onwards, and if had written a book the law suits would have been colossal! Lot of people knew what was going on in areas, but nobody blew air up the golden goose.............
If someone had made a more accurate, and graphic, account of Freddie, with some private and public footage, it would have been vilified, so guess this offering was indeed totally predictable.
Fortunately there are still many people about who remember the entertainer artiste as he was. He was something a bit over the top on the party circuit, ask Paul Gam, but on stage he was over the top in control. His voice and musical feel was unrivaled.
Long live Freddie, and his music. Hopefully he is charging about somewhere having a great time......Full-on-Freddie................thank God for the characters. Lived down road from Oliver Reed........another story!
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
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.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Bohemian Rhapsody (aka Untitled Freddie Mercury Biopic) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
I had an interesting theater experience while watching Bohemian Rhapsody. During a scene where Freddy Mercury first makes out with his personal manager, an older gentleman behind me could be heard moaning and groaning in disbelief, as though Mercury’s bisexuality was a mere footnote of his career that didn’t play a major role and the movie was trying to amp it up. But it’s the opposite in fact as the movie turns in a rather watered down retrospective of the story behind the rock legend Queen. Perhaps this was what the marketing rep meant when he read the boilerplate of not to spoil the movie before release. Maybe a lot of older folks would be coming into this movie cold, only known Queen from the radio and not being prepared for the story behind the music they love to listen to in the car or at sports games.
Rami Malek plays the role of Freddy Mercury and while he overplays the exuberant nature, there’s an undeniable energy to his performance. It’s tough to gauge him, however, as the movie never slows down to explore him past his musical exploits, covering the more intimate moments with all the grace of C- book report. Freddy meets the guitarists and drummer who would help form the band Queen and we quickly cut to their rising in the ranks. He has a woman he loves and will soon marry but you’ll just have to trust there’s some chemistry which isn’t present on the screen. There’s no time for exploring Freddy’s romance when there’s music to be made. There’s very little time for anything that the entire Queen story seems to be told in disconnecting bullet points, which is not a good thing when the film runs 2½ hours and still hardly scratches the surface of its subject.
The film, unfortunately, spends too much time on the music as though a greatest hits tape was jammed in the deck and won’t shut off when we want it to. Again, maybe this is a means of easing the lesser accepting crowd into the rocky road of Freddy’s struggle with sexuality, partying, and his eventual discovery he has (SPOILERS) AIDS. Oh, were you grossed out by Freddy kissing a dude? Don’t worry, grandpa; here’s a louder theatrical version of “Somebody to Love.” Remember that song? How about “We Will Rock You”? And there’s plenty more where that came from as the film continuously pads itself out with Queen music in the form of montages, before eventually giving up on the story and showcasing nearly the entire Live Aid performance as a climax.
Most peculiar about the film is how it tries too hard to be an audience pleaser for the music, yes, but also the comedy. There’s a handful of scenes meant to showcase the silly as well as being odd additions of foreboding. In a scene that seems better written for a Saturday Night Live skit, Mike Myers appears in the film as a record executive who criticizes the band’s latest song of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” commenting on how teenage boys will never headbang in their cars to such a song. I’m surprised the film didn’t decide to spell this out more plainly by cutting to Myers in Wayne’s World doing the act he is referring to.
You won’t learn much about Queen in this film that a quick zip over to Wikipedia or a biography would reveal. You won’t get a fantastic performance out of Malek past the musical showcase, which he’s certainly skilled at, but there’s little room to explore the dramatic aspect when the editing keeps whipping away to the next musical set piece. So unless you really dig the music of Queen, to the point where you’re willing to sacrifice the story behind Mercury’s fall with vice, Bohemian Rhapsody comes off as little more than a big-budget movie of the week for VH1. I find it’s best served as a soft bio for the older crowd, perhaps easing them into the acceptance that Freddy Mercury was bisexual.