Bohemian Rhapsody Review
Whether you are a die-hard Queen fan or only know a couple of their songs, this movie is enjoyable for everyone. We get a great insight into the life of Freddie Mercury and where his journey with Queen all began. His parents weren't supportive of his interest in music as they were worried he would never succeed but oh how wrong they were. After introducing himself to Brian May and Rodger Taylor at a concert in their college one evening, he made quite an impression on the pair and began performing with them. After a while, Queen was formed with Freddie as the lead singer, Brian as the lead guitarist, Rodger as the drummer and John Deacon as the bass guitarist.
We see the band transform and go through crucial points in their career such as being signed to their first record label, releasing their first single, and performing on Top of the Pops for the first time. Although it wasn't all happy times for the band, we witness rows, Freddie's divorce due to his sexuality, the devastation of the band breaking up and of course how Freddie dealt with having AIDS.
The film focuses on the life of Freddie and how badly the world of fame and fortune affected him. He used alcohol and drugs as a form of escapism and was barely ever sober, especially during his solo career. He gets himself into bad situations with awful, sly people and it takes some time for him to snap out of this dreadful lifestyle. We feel for Freddie at this time in his life as we can see his mental health is in a bad place and he is struggling with addiction but has no one to turn to. It takes his ex wife to come back into his life for Freddie to realise what a mess he is in and that he just wants to sing with Queen again.
One thing I found quite confusing was that the rise of Queen happened so quickly in the film. One second they were in a recording studio in the middle of nowhere trying to write Bohemian Rhapsody and the next they were all married with children, except for Freddie. I wish that we got to see this transition in more depth.
The music in the film is absolutely fascinating and seeing the effort the band went through for some of their songs makes you appreciate them so much more. If, like me, you studied the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for your Leaving Cert and dread anytime it comes on, I promise you that seeing how much time they put into it and how creative they were making it, you will never have a bad thing to say about it again. It was the first time anyone did anything like it and it got them recognised worldwide. If you have a favourite Queen song I guarantee you that it's in the movie. I was concerned that they wouldn't be able to fit all of the classic hits into the two hours but they pulled it off tremendously. Some of the songs include 'Killer Queen', 'Somebody to Love' and 'I Want to Break Free' along with others that I forgot were even written by the band like 'Fat Bottomed Girls' and 'Under Pressure'. I know that I for one had to stop myself from bursting out into song in the cinema but for others this setting didn't stop them as they sang along with their favourite hits.
The movie opens and closes with Queen performing at the Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium. It blows my mind how well they recreated this concert and it feels like we are literally brought back in time and sitting in the front row of the show. I think that in this scene Rami Malek looks like Freddie Mercury more than ever. He also performs and sounds just like him too. This is an extremely emotional scene as we realise that this is one of the last times Queen ever sang together due to Freddie's illness. When he sings the lyric 'Goodbye everybody, I've got to go, got to leave you all behind and face the truth', it's a real tear jerker and left no one with a dry eye in the movie theatre.
Overall I think it is a great movie and is definitely worth seeing. I would've liked to have seen more focus on how Freddie dealt with having AIDS and more of an insight into the other members personal lives but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The music is incredible and getting an insight into the life of Freddie Mercury is amazing. Rami Malek portrays the character so well and I can see him winning many awards for this performance in the future.
P.S: If you are a cat lover like myself, you’re in for a treat.
~Charlie x
We see the band transform and go through crucial points in their career such as being signed to their first record label, releasing their first single, and performing on Top of the Pops for the first time. Although it wasn't all happy times for the band, we witness rows, Freddie's divorce due to his sexuality, the devastation of the band breaking up and of course how Freddie dealt with having AIDS.
The film focuses on the life of Freddie and how badly the world of fame and fortune affected him. He used alcohol and drugs as a form of escapism and was barely ever sober, especially during his solo career. He gets himself into bad situations with awful, sly people and it takes some time for him to snap out of this dreadful lifestyle. We feel for Freddie at this time in his life as we can see his mental health is in a bad place and he is struggling with addiction but has no one to turn to. It takes his ex wife to come back into his life for Freddie to realise what a mess he is in and that he just wants to sing with Queen again.
One thing I found quite confusing was that the rise of Queen happened so quickly in the film. One second they were in a recording studio in the middle of nowhere trying to write Bohemian Rhapsody and the next they were all married with children, except for Freddie. I wish that we got to see this transition in more depth.
The music in the film is absolutely fascinating and seeing the effort the band went through for some of their songs makes you appreciate them so much more. If, like me, you studied the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for your Leaving Cert and dread anytime it comes on, I promise you that seeing how much time they put into it and how creative they were making it, you will never have a bad thing to say about it again. It was the first time anyone did anything like it and it got them recognised worldwide. If you have a favourite Queen song I guarantee you that it's in the movie. I was concerned that they wouldn't be able to fit all of the classic hits into the two hours but they pulled it off tremendously. Some of the songs include 'Killer Queen', 'Somebody to Love' and 'I Want to Break Free' along with others that I forgot were even written by the band like 'Fat Bottomed Girls' and 'Under Pressure'. I know that I for one had to stop myself from bursting out into song in the cinema but for others this setting didn't stop them as they sang along with their favourite hits.
The movie opens and closes with Queen performing at the Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium. It blows my mind how well they recreated this concert and it feels like we are literally brought back in time and sitting in the front row of the show. I think that in this scene Rami Malek looks like Freddie Mercury more than ever. He also performs and sounds just like him too. This is an extremely emotional scene as we realise that this is one of the last times Queen ever sang together due to Freddie's illness. When he sings the lyric 'Goodbye everybody, I've got to go, got to leave you all behind and face the truth', it's a real tear jerker and left no one with a dry eye in the movie theatre.
Overall I think it is a great movie and is definitely worth seeing. I would've liked to have seen more focus on how Freddie dealt with having AIDS and more of an insight into the other members personal lives but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The music is incredible and getting an insight into the life of Freddie Mercury is amazing. Rami Malek portrays the character so well and I can see him winning many awards for this performance in the future.
P.S: If you are a cat lover like myself, you’re in for a treat.
~Charlie x
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