Warning: I take all things Queen very seriously.
Since age eight, this has been my favorite band. I consider it my personal mission to extol the greatness — both in life and death — of frontman Freddie Mercury. Queen means so much to me in fact that they’ve left their mark on me literally. The whole of my upper right arm is tattooed with an image of the foursome from their “One Vision” music video.
Also, my son’s name is Freddie. I didn’t do this to be cute; it was an entirely intentional move. I want my boy to possess the greatness of a legend. For me, Freddie Mercury is that legend and I miss him daily, despite first discovering the band a year after his untimely death from AIDS.
Having a tangible Queen biopic we can see and savor is clear panacea for me and the millions of diehards who can’t get enough of Mercury’s life and legacy. While Bohemian Rhapsody is in no way perfect, I’ve also determined it’s hard to be unbiased when you see something you love being depicted in ways that deviate from chronology. The best attitude audiences should take with the film is – courtesy of an underrated Roger Taylor lyric — “Don’t shun it, fun it!” In other words, take pleasure in the fact Queen has been taken seriously enough to warrant a full-length feature movie highlighting their many accomplishments all these years later.
Many people are already doing so — the film has already hit Number One at the box office with nine figures in worldwide ticket sales achieved in mere days.
Bohemian Rhapsody is also the vehicle that proves actor Rami Malek can attain Daniel Day-Lewis-esque perfection when it comes to method acting. Wholly respectful to Freddie’s being, Malek clearly does his homework, encapsulating every nuance and emotion that transformed timid Zanzibar native Farrokh Bulsara into the supremely confident, virtuosic musical peacock we’ve loved to see show off his colors and dynamism time and time again through titanic vocals and a level of assuredness most lead singers lack.
But like most biopics, this film does have visible flaws and inaccuracies. Here’s a few to quickly shoo the proverbial elephant out of the musical room:
- The film showcases “We Will Rock You” being recorded post-1980. The track came to fruition in 1977 (when Mercury was sans mustache).
- “Fat Bottomed Girls” didn’t enter the group’s arsenal until 1978; showing the band playing it live in 1974 is just flat-out wrong.
- There is no discussion of the band’s collective creative output between the years of 1986 to 1996, a period when Queen released some of its greatest albums (Innuendo and Made in Heaven included).
- Ben Hardy is simply not believable as drummer Roger Taylor — a shame since actors Gwilym Lee and Joseph Mazzello do superb jobs as guitarist Brian May and bassist John Deacon, respectively.
While the film does its best to depict Mercury’s sexuality, it would have fared better if less screen time was spent discussing his relationship with assistant Paul Prenter (depicted as a Judas within the Queen collective) and more was devoted to the band’s recording prowess. Fortunately, Lucy Boynton and Aaron McCusker shine as Freddie’s loves Mary Austin and Jim Hutton. The making of A Night at the Opera album and its defining track (guess which one!) provides a hearty dose of tenderness and laughs, especially as Malek and crew taunt a beleaguered EMI executive, deftly played by comedian Mike Myers (trying hard to subdue an accent coming straight from the Austin Powers films).
And then, of course, there’s the film’s supreme achievement – a virtual recreation of Queen’s seminal 18-minute performance at Live Aid. If Malek generates any awards buzz for taking on the role of mighty Mercury, it will be for how effortlessly he portrays Mercury on the biggest stage of his life. That’s when the tears (of happiness) will really start to fall.
Trust me when I say tears will be commonplace when watching this film. They will seem to spring spontaneously whether you’re a Queen fan or not. Try not getting choked up watching Mercury learn of his AIDS diagnosis to the strains of “Who Wants to Live Forever,” and then valiantly break the news to his band mates before vowing to keep making music until the day he dies. By the time, everyone within Freddie’s inner circle learns of his fate, it will be near-impossible not to tremble with emotion.
Though seemingly cliché, ultimately the film’s creators choose Live Aid as the optimal moment to end the film. I questioned it initially but after realizing there’s no topper for Mercury and crew going for the jugular at Wembley Stadium and enthralling a crowd of 100,000, I support their decision.
Besides if anyone is looking for the whole Queen story, they can easily check out the superb band documentary Days Of Our Lives. In the meantime, Bohemian Rhapsody succeeds in reminding generations why this is one band worth worshiping.
For me, this film reaffirms that I named my son appropriately — a fact I’m happy to remind my wife Jen about on a daily basis.
~ Ira Kantor
