Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) – A Top 5 List
Where to begin?
I’m not going to sugar-coat with an intro on this one. This film is, hands-down, fantastic. One of my favorites of 2018, to be sure. The music, the look, the feelings I got while watching… For new fans and old, Bohemian Rhapsody has more than enough Queen to go around to everyone in the audience. Hell, I’m organizing it all into a Top 5 list. Here we go…
5. The proceedings. I think it’s neat that Queen lead guitarist Brian May was on-set for most of the shoot. If something meant as much to me as this band did to him and the rest, I’d want to be there as much as I could, too, to make sure that everything was paid proper attention. The knowledge that May was there and offering up narrative opinions and insight just made this experience allthemore delectable. I do wish more time was spent on the up-and-coming part of the band’s story—how they came to be, early-on, and some more of how the unique sounds of their most iconic songs came to being—but what we get is very interesting; a lot of in-studio experimentation was done to achieve that Queen class.
4. Marvelous aesthetic. The coloring of the film, overall, is great. Colors are bright and pop when they need to be, but the subdued palette makes it all look like a piece of old ‘70s film. The costuming is on-point, too, and a lot of the wardrobes are accurate to photos of the group on- and off-stage. Mercury’s various get-ups, especially—lavish and luxurious as they are—stand out from the others’ without seeming out-of-place. Some aging affects look off, but most everyone is “historically” accurate. The casting is spot-on, as well, but more on that later…
3. A toe-tapping good time. I’m split… At one end, I’d like to have heard Rami Malek (USA’s Mr. Robot) at least do a partial vocal—maybe at the ending, during the Live Aid performance. On the other, I’m satisfied with his lip-syncing along to Mercury’s original vocals. It’s a respect thing, I feel like—maybe we’d get a different scoop directly from Malek’s mouth, but treading on Mercury’s nigh-perfect pitches could put off a lot of fans, and even some newcomers. If it doesn’t sound next to spot-on, then it’s wasted. Not that I believe Malek couldn’t at least try, but he and I have the same vocal register; I get it, and I appreciate their restraint—so many times, the star must get their time in the sun. The visual isn’t good enough, for some. All these songs, though, crammed into two-hours-fifteen… Fun as it is to hum along and jive in my seat, I’d much rather it be to the man Mercury, himself.
2. Rami Malek is Freddie Mercury. At number two, sure, but that means nothing to the final rating. This is Mercury’s personal story—his rises and falls, peaks and valleys, and what it meant to be him in the 1970s and ‘80s. Everyone’s great, and there are a few big names in here that were cool to see pop up, but it’s the lead that steals the show. I foresaw it going no other way; ever since the first image of Malek in the Mercury get-up, I was so very excited to see him perform. The trailers only got me going more, to the point where going to the show Sunday night became the beacon of my entire week. I noticed the mirrored sunglasses motif repeated throughout; Mercury lived many lives, and not everyone saw every side of him. The only time he didn’t wear them—the only time he was really himself, really free—was on-stage. With Queen. I have more respect for the man and the band, after this. Although it’s an overtly-fictional re-telling of events, artistic liberties do not pull away the true meaning of this film, they enhance it: Tragic though his story may be, Mercury paved the way for many others to embrace their true selves, no matter what the world may think. He was a truly good man, whom ended up putting all others ahead of himself. For the greater good, as it were. The end-credits memoria—set to my favorite, “Don’t Stop Me Now”—puts a period on all that.
1. Full-circle. “Begin with the end in mind.” That’s a learned mantra I still use to this day, in my storytelling. We start on the morning of the Live Aid concert in 1985, then jump back to Mercury’s days as a bag-man at Heathrow. It’s home-life, club-prowling, eventually getting lucky by stumbling on May and Taylor after a seemingly-good gig. Low-rent spots, albums, tours—and all against his family’s best wishes. When Mercury finds out he’s dying, though, and comes out to his folks, he reiterates a heart-felt lesson he learned from watching his father—the one who shook his head at Freddie for all those years, for being such a subversive soul. Bring your tissues, gang. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say it made me think of my mother, two seats down in the theatre—the one who’s supported me over the years, when others wouldn’t. My rock. That penultimate scene truly touched me. That’s why I go to the movies: To feel with these characters.
If I had to give it a final ‘Risk Assessment, Bohemian Rhapsody would get a very strong *****/. Emotional and epic in equal measure, this film lived up to every expectation I had.
Next review(s): The Grinch (2018), Overlord (Nov. 8th)
