Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Freddie defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.

Freddie Mercury is almost a household name now, even long after his death in 1991, him and his bands music lives on and it will do for the foreseeable future, that's for sure. This film isn't about how famous he was or his lavish lifestyle, sure they were involved but it gave us a really up close and personal portraiture of Freddie Mercury and how his life changed in rapid and shocking ways. I must say though, watching this film is an experience and even though I am not massively into that period of music, it is absolutely a time period that will go down in the history of music for amazing artists. I won't give too much away though, is this film a kind of magic or is it making me go slightly mad? Here are my thoughts.

I'll be honest, if I were to write everything I liked about this film then I would be here a very long time and my hands would probably be a mess with all of the typing. I found it very hard to pick out a few key parts that I liked, but here are some of my favourite parts to the film. The film started off amazingly well, Freddie Mercury is a very well known character but the film basically introduced us to him, his life and his culture by showing him walking up the stairs at arguably his most famous performance in the film, Live Aid. It then cut to his life before all of the glamour and the fame, I really liked this because it gave us a great introduction to him as a character and it also showed us how successful he was and then basically said, 'we're going to take you on a roller coaster of his life to that point'. Not only was it very helpful for people like myself who didn't witness him performing but it just generally helped to get everyone on the same page regarding him as a character. Like in most films, he was portrayed as a loser and a failure of a son to his father at the beginning of the film, which added a level of sympathy to his character adding a much more human like and realistic feeling which was nice. But it also got us on his side right from the very beginning and ensured that all of the audience were rooting for him throughout the film. This and seeing how he was racially abused really built him up not only as a character but in real life as a person too, scenes like this were powerful because it gave us an insight into his personal and private life which had a really positive effect and made the character seem really down to Earth and realistic which I thoroughly liked.

The main theme of the film was about him and music and this was executed amazingly well, by playing audio clips of Queen's finished songs whilst the band were creating them it just really added the original band and music into the film and more importantly it helped us to reflect on the bigger picture. Freddie was represented very well in the film to be the main character and even though we weren't explicitly introduced to the other characters, it really felt like we knew them and understood how their characteristics were different but what they shared made them a group. These character relationships also developed which I really liked, seeing how his relationship not only with the other band members change but also with Mary changed and developed throughout the film was intriguing and really made the film engaging and exciting to watch. Seeing how his life events such as coming out as gay and having AIDS affected his relationships was extremely gripping, realistic and saddening to be honest, however these relationships changing and adapting throughout the film was such an entertaining and gripping spectacle that it was easily one of the best sections of the film. They were genuine too which was arguably one of the best elements of their relationships, seeing the genuine connection that he shared with Mary and seeing how their love changed and adapted was so enjoyable to see and it really got the audience on side of the couple. But what I liked about this was that even though he became more and more successful, he never forgot about her and we were constantly reminded of his 'past life' and who he was before the fame and seeing this was just so good to watch. I honestly can't put into words how amazingly portrayed their relationship and friendship was and towards the end seeing her cry as she knew Freddie would soon die of AIDS was really saddening because the relationships between Freddie and the band and Freddie and Mary were so genuine that they felt real (which they were in real life but I won't go into that!). The band didn't feel like 4 actors, but 4 genuine friends and a family. I loved seeing how well laid out the plot of this film was executed too, as I've always said, films that tell a story instead of a plot are the best films because they lead you through and even though we knew of his eventual demise, it was still an amazing film to experience and follow. This was mainly because of how well structured it was, there were barely any points that didn't make sense or that were confusing, because the film was put together so well it honestly flowed really smoothly and it just made the film all that more entertaining to watch.

I think arguably my favourite part of this film was the performances and how effective the film portrayed emotions to us as an audience, there were so many insanely good scenes, any of Queen performing on stage, scenes with Freddie and Mary, crowds there were too many to count. Like I said, this isn't generally my type of music but for all of the performances of songs in this film I was glued to the screen, they were incredible and just so much fun to watch. Like I said as well though they were made really well, these scenes helped us to feel as if we were really there at that time and in that place with them, by showing us key scenes and places that only Queen knew about. Another incredibly powerful scene was the communication between an AIDS patient and Freddie in the hospital, it only involved one sound by each character but it was just so powerful and breathtaking to see how much of an impact he had on people's lives around him. The film also had an incredibly strong emotional impact, like I said, when we saw Mary cry at Live Aid it was really effectively portrayed to us as an audience and after seeing the story between him and the band, as well as his family and Mary it was really upsetting to see how the film ended and how his life came to a close. Again there were many really important analogies in the film such as how he sang " Too late, my time has come, Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time. Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go, Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth Mama, ooh, I don't want to die" which had an incredibly emotional impact because we knew he had AIDS and those lyrics were literal, he was dying. Seeing his split from Mary was also incredibly sad too because it was really clear how much their relationship meant to them, like I said I can't go through all of them because there are far too many but trust me, this film is full of some of the best scenes I've seen from a film this year. It wasn't just sadness that the film gave off though, anger at seeing Freddie's manager ruin his relationships, happiness seeing him with the band and Mary and just pure excitement throughout the whole film. It was well timed though to ensure that it kept its story like feel which was well received. It just generally produced an amazing insight into his genuine life behind the fame and seeing how he was criticised for being of Tanzanian and gay and how Bohemian Rhapsody would never be big, scenes like this just helped to prove how successful the band really were.

I must admit it was difficult to find issues with this film, I think my main issue lies with the introduction of some scenes and characters. I feel that some key elements of the film were a little bit underrepresented, such as how he got AIDS (who from), how his management team affected his life and his gay feelings before he actually came out to Mary. Some of the films plot was a little bit disturbed due to the under representation of these key aspects to the film, which was a shame but admittedly, they didn't have a massive impact on the film overall.

Another issue was that there were a few extra questions to be had with the story, why is Freddie's relationship with the family so cold and filled gaps? Where did he start playing piano? There were a few questions from the film like this that didn't hinder the overall film, but would've been nice to have known just so that we could have had a better understanding.

Overall, I would give this film a 9 out of 10. I feel that the characters, story and overall film was some of the best made productions that I have seen from a film in recent times. The acting from everyone was just amazing and really helped to make the film exciting and entertaining to watch, the plot took us on a roller coaster of emotions, the relationships felt genuine and were exciting and fun to witness, albeit sometimes a little sad! I think the best part of this film though was the amazing set of scenes of them performing songs, and showing this life he had compared with a more personal life. The film was gripping, emotional, effective and entertaining from start to end. The only issues I had were that some elements weren't introduced very well, which led to further questions and the under representation of some issues in the film. I would definitely recommend this film to everyone, I think the best thing I could say about this film is that even though I'm not a big fan of Queen, this film was just amazing and definitely makes me want to get more into that genre of music for sure! It is definitely one o my favourite films this year, I can't wait to buy the DVD to watch it again!

Just before I end the review, I'd also like to say how amazing the final Live Aid scene was. Not only was it emotional but the actor who played Freddie - Rami Malek rehearsed for this role for a year to ensure that the performance at the end was inch perfect as to perfectly recreate how Freddie moved at Live Aid. Rami was the best of an amazing bunch of actors here, he was absolutely fantastic. He's one of my favourite actors so it's a bit biased but I really hope he wins an Oscar award for this performance, and a member of Queen, Brian May, agrees too. It was the perfect way to finish the film, by showing his biggest and best performance to honour him and his legacy in the best possible way. Oh and I liked the 20th century fox audio in the style of Queen too! That's it, sorry for the extra long review!!

Thanks so much for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review. I hope you have an awesome day!

RIP Freddie Mercury - 1946 - 1991