Bohemian Rhapsody

INT. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - DAY

JETHRO walks the halls. He reaches the Dinosaur Exhibit and finds FOUR PIRATES making off with bones. They have a fight and Jethro's overwhelmed.

JETHRO:
To gain a brief advantage you've contrived,
But your proud triumph will not be long lived.

PIRATES
Don't give us a sad face, for we know the game.

JETHRO
On my allegiance I make a stronger claim.
I command you yield, I command you yield

... in Freddie Mercury's name!

The Pirates drop what they're doing.

JETHRO
You yield?

PIRATES
We yield at once, with humbled mien,
Because, with all our faults, we love our Queen.

Before we waste any more time wasted because of this Pirates of Penzance parody, let's discuss Bohemian Rhapsody, the story of four men who took the name Queen.

In 1970, Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek) meets the band Smile just a minute after their frontman quit. Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) are impressed with Farrokh's vocal abilities and hire him. Farrokh becomes Freddie Mercury and Smile becomes Queen. They become a sensation with their six-minute opus of the film's title.

But it's not easy for Freddie. He finds himself falling for men and women. Among them are his manager Paul Prenter (Allen Leach) and girlfriend Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton). He hopes to make his traditional Parsi parents proud. The Band struggles with creative differences. A record executive wants to sign Freddie to a solo career. And there's the looming threat of AIDS.

While Bryan Singer is credited as director, Dexter Fletcher took over after Singer left the film under certain circumstances. The screen story they realized was by Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan. Freddie's introduction to the band and their success following the title song goes by pretty quickly. Almost too quickly. The story overshadows the other members of Queen, especially with John Deacon (Joseph Mazello). They are important but Freddie is the overall frontman of the story. On a positive side, them creating their songs led to highly energetic scenes. Their fight with executive Ray Foster (Mike Myers) over the title song's length was entertaining.

The film's greatest strength is Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. His story follows the familiar musical biopic route but Malek's performance brings him front and center. He's a likable, sympathetic man off-stage and a dynamic showman on-stage. And we see him live up to his stage persona in real life. His reaction to his diagnosis - to keep on playing - is courageous. Great sound mixing allows the real Freddie's recordings to dub over Malek's voice.

Editor/Composer John Ottman and Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel get high marks for the concert scenes. The shear magnitude of concert goers, especially in the climactic performance at Live Aid, is mind-blowing. I'm sure a lot of the crowd were CGI extras and if they were, it was great CGI. The film's soundtrack is a great setlist of Queen's music. Though it's a pity that the film skims over their involvement with Flash Gordon. That song was awesome.

Anyway, Bohemian Rhapsody is a finely paced music biopic. It's not an accurate depiction of Queen's history but it's a good introduction to the band. And, to reiterate, it's a great showcase for Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. It's sure to rock you for 135 minutes. Even for a bit.