Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

[aabattery]

Sing your praises, or not.

[CoolioD1]

saw it a week ago and it's already pretty much out of my mind. it's the worst thing a biopic can be, a lifeless, safe adaptation of a wikipedia page. malek is good but the movie never allows him to be great.

Edited November 2, 2018 by CoolioD1

[kaijukurt]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. 

 

Rami Malek killed it as Freddie Mercury, and I think the stylishness of it all along with the rapid fire pace is gonna work well with general audiences like it did with me.

 

I can see where the critics are coming from about it not diving deeper into Queen (especially the other bandmates)...but as a audience-friendly, blockbuster window to at least introduce general audiences to Queen..it absolutely worked for me.

 

A

[filmlover]

This was definitely uneven, although I thought the good ultimately outweighed the bad. It feels like an "Ultimate Hits" compilation, and I think that approach does a disservice because you can see the seeds of a great movie had they settled on one particular aspect to explore (whether it be the success of Queen or Freddie Mercury's personal life). What saves the movie are two things: the first is the musical sequences (along with the songs themselves), which are very well-made and capture the energy of a live performance. The other is Rami Malek's performance as Mercury. He didn't do any of the singing, but he disappears into the role and becomes Mercury. While he can't completely overcome the thin characterization in the script, I think he gives the part much more depth than what is on the page, and whenever the movie works, it's almost entirely because of him (everybody else in the movie is stuck mainly in the background, although Lucy Boynton provides a very warm presence as Mary Austin). The Live Aid performance at the end is for sure the highlight of the film, even if the recreation can't match up to the real thing. If you're looking for a definitive look at the life of a figure as fascinating as Mercury, you'll have to keep looking. But Malek's performance alone makes this worth seeing IMO. B-

[dashrendar44]

The movie is the antithesis of Queen's music. Conceited, dull and stale, it mostly fails to match the flamboyant energy of its subject, merely catching what is already perceptible in the countless real live renditions without much aesthetical additions beyond the actors mimicry, surimposed titles and some camera sweep over digital crowds.

 

Can't believe they had Baron Cohen and Fincher at one point but let them slip away for this pale TV movie-like sanitized biopic, though Malek's acting performance is almost pitch perfect look-wise and nails the mannerisms especially when incarnating Mercury's younger days (minus the distracting fake teeth), he can't do much to elevate an uneven script that keeps on scratching the surface without exploring any deeper themes and choppy editing botching what could have been a monumental visual ode to Queen's music and Mercury's life & artistry.

 

C.

Edited November 3, 2018 by dashrendar44

[Webslinger]

Bohemian Rhapsody is every bit as messy as its turbulent production history suggests it would be; parts of it soar, but other parts feel disappointingly workmanlike. There’s a special kind of irony present in seeing a band known for its distinctive voice getting a movie that lacks such a voice for most of its running time; to be fair, though, the fact that it mostly feels like a coherent product despite the turmoil that sprung from credited director Bryan Singer’s antics is a win (a Justice League muddle of visions it’s not). The script follows all the standard beats of a rise-fall-and-redemption musician biopic so routinely that the narrative isn’t always as compelling as it ought to be, but Rami Malek is terrific as Freddie Mercury. Aside from the obvious lip-syncing (something the film even lampshades at one point), Malek is totally committed to the part and gives a wildly entertaining and genuinely affecting performance. He also packs a ton of energy into the concert performances, which are handily the film’s most effective moments. The film is so focused on hitting the expected beats that it rarely feels as unique as it could be, but it’s entertaining enough while it lasts and gets plenty of mileage from Malek’s star turn. 

 

B-

 

Stray Thoughts:

- LOL at Mike Myers corpsing while ripping on "Bohemian Rhapsody."

 

- Speaking of the title song, would it have killed them to play the whole song? It's not like the filmmakers were aiming for a tight running time here.

 

- The concerns about, erm, straight-washing Freddie Mercury turn out to have been misplaced, but it does feel like the filmmakers were wary of being "too" gay and they also completely wave off Mercury's self-identification as bisexual.

[That One Girl]

Realllyyyy hated this movie.

[ladyevenstar22]

i enjoyed it very much , malek did a great job , the music was great , i loved the band interactions and the creative process of making their songs/ album . 

i feel the way they showed him being gay and not showing it kinda reflects the times when it was very much a hush hush backdoor alley /hidden corners and to see it through our modern lense isnt fair.

 

for the most part i've been a generic Queen fan , like most i know the big anthem , i know freddy mercury died of aids , probably caught a behind the music episode on him or some documentary when i was young but for the most part i knew one song particularly well probably saw it on a throwback videos compilation show from vh1 " i want to break free" its very personal to me and i listen to it often at least once or twice a week . 

 

haven't read any critics , don't care for critics anymore. Everything these days is just a stream of negativity so anything that negates that negativity and makes me feel a heartwarming sensation and that there is still beauty in this world gets an A + from me .

 

PS: it even brought me back to comment on this site , ok i meant to but hearing avatar sequels are done done push me to click open that chrome window .

[Fancyarcher]

My review.

 

https://dailyuv.com/970634

[Goffe]

It’s like A Star is Born, but in reverse. Both adhere to the tired rise-fall-redemption structure (can we PLEASE let that go?), but one can never reach the heights of its first act ending on a whimper while the other only gets better after a agonizingly dull first half. 

 

After my Star is Born screening, I could only think how I had already seen that movie countless times before. After my Bohemian Rhapsody screening, I was impacted, my face red from the crying.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody absolutely kills it when focuses on Freddie yearning for a sense of belonging, pretty much ending on a perfect note with the reconstruction of the live aid performance. 8/10

Edited November 27, 2018 by Goffe

[elcaballero]

The most disappointing part of the movie is the needless (and inaccurate) band breakup just to force some drama and and a trite final act redemption. Then again, I feel that a movie focusing on Mercury post-diagnosis would have been more interesting in the first place. 

 

Nitpicky stuff: The Live Aid part is fine, but it didn't need terrible swooping CGI shots. Also, the Hollywood rain scene looked laughably bad.

[TMP]

This is pretty terrible, and Rami Malek is so devoid of any charisma despite playing one of the most charismatic performers ever. Painting Mercury's love of men as a character flaw, and the main reason the band broke up was certainly a choice. Felt like ****** coding it for his own debauchery and disgusting behaviour. The evil gay manager also felt a lot more moustache-twirling than any of the bad guys in X-Men, and ending with a big third act set-piece in a CGI Live Aid recreation felt incredibly empty

[Rebeccas]

This movie has such an amazingly deceptive bookend effect. The opening Live Aid montage is actually a wonderful piece of filmmaking with lots of clever edits and excellent build up. It got me very excited to see the film. Then you get to.. the flashback that makes up 80% of the movie which is absolutely dreadful with only an occasional moment of inspiration. Everything about this segment just screams "TROUBLED PRODUCTION" like all the red flags are there. Then for the last 20 minutes, you're back in the good part of the movie that leads you to what is basically a Live Aid cosplay which of course is fun cause the music is great? And you leave the theater thinking only about the bookend scenes cause they were the first and last impression until you think a little harder and realize that most of the movie is terrible.

 

Actually this is one bad movie that I totally understand why the general audience is falling head over heels over.. it's a very tricky piece of filmmaking that I almost have to give them props for.

[aabattery]

I've always thought the one thing missing from Queen's Live Aid performance was a shitload of annoying cutaways.

[MrFanaticGuy34]

I liked Bohemian Rhapsody. Plus, Rami Malek does give an interesting performance as Freddie Mercury.

 

I was really invested in the movie as a whole...including the Live Aid moment in the near end.