Rent Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

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.

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!

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!