Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody - 2018

Directed by Bryan Singer (although Dexter Fletcher technically directed and saved the film after Singer got fired), written by Anthony McCarten and produced by Graham King and Jim Beach.

The film broke me... it literally broke me spiritually, mentally and emotionally. So much so I even tweeted about it.

Twitter: @niamhcrawley_

I’ve spent the last week dancing around my house, acting like a drag artist whilst singing the film soundtrack at the top of my lungs.

Okay now onto the serious review...

Critics have praised the performances of Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Gwilym Lee and Lucy Boynton. Many have especially praised Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury and perhaps forgetting the excellent performances by the rest of the cast.

But the films plot has been criticised for not diving deep enough into the band members lives, especially Freddie Mercury and his journey through discovering his bisexuality.

However, I have to disagree, now I am totally acknowledging the fact that I am slightly (very) biased because I am big fan of Freddie Mercury and an even bigger fan of Queen.  Also, Brian May and Roger Taylor were creative and musical consultants on the film and former queen manager Tim Beach produced the film, so they SURELY must have been happy with the films portrayal of Freddie’s life and the band’s journey leading up to 1985 Live Aid, otherwise they would have said something.

Malek has even defended the film saying,

“In those two hours I know that those men want to celebrate Freddie’s life, and there was definitely a cognisant effort not to make this a hedonistic, salacious film”

The films online description describes the film as “a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury.”  

In some ways I see why people have criticised the film. The world was and still is obsessed with Freddie Mercury, so of course many are going to want every possible detail about his life.

However, the film focuses on Queen AND Freddie Mercury. The whole point of the film is to celebrate not only Freddie Mercury’s life but the achievements the band made together.

I still can’t quite pinpoint or perhaps justify why I enjoyed the film as much as I did…

I guess one of the best parts about the film (for me anyway) was learning about how various iconic songs were written and what inspired them to be written.  

I feel like this article is just turning into that lady gaga meme, you know the one where she’s just listing off words to describe how great something is?

I honestly can’t really fault this film. I enjoyed every second of it.

After I studied a-level media, I was constantly analysing any films and tv shows that I watched, looking out for editing techniques, sound, camera angles etc.

This was the first time in a while I had been able to sit down and become completely invested in a films plotline and forget about trying to analyse it.

Trying to summarise a way to describe this film is like trying to pick a favourite Queen song - it’s just not possible.  

All I can say is go see this film, whether you are a fan of Queen or not. The individual performances by the main cast and the storytelling technique of this film makes it worth a trip to the cinema.