The story of one of the greatest rock bands in history, Bohemian Rhapsody is here, it won a Golden Globe Award for best Drama, and it has even nominated for an Oscar for best picture. The question we should all be asking is, is this movie really that great? Is it even a good movie?
[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The question we should all be asking is, is this movie really that great? Is it even a good movie?[/perfectpullquote]
Well for starters, calling this movie the “true” story of Queen might be a little generous. Any true fans of will notice some inaccuracies in the story. Many of these changes are done for the purpose of making things more dramatic. However, there’s some changes that don’t really make too much sense. An example of this is when they change Freddie Mercury’s hair for the song “We Will Rock You.” Because members of the band other than Mercury were producers on the film, the story is told through a bias lens. If you care about historical accuracy, then this will bug you, these changes are nothing more then simply small.
The two best things by far in this movie are the cinematography and the acting. This movie is very well shot. Every pan, zoom, close up, and such feels like it has a purpose. The camera-work mirrors the personality of Freddie Mercury, always dancing, full of energy, and full fun. These shots highlight the story, they are telling in a interesting way. The acting is terrific alongside the the cinematography. Rami Malek who plays Freddie Mercury steals the show. He captures the attitude and strugle that Mercury went through in real life. As a matter of fact, he wore extra teeth to mimic the overbite Freddie actually had. Gwilym Lee gives a great performance as Brian May, he is the contrast to Freddie, in that he’s calm, cool, and logical.
The only score that was used for the movie was music made by Queen, which isn’t a unique idea but it’s still a good one. However, there’s times when the music was used that just didn’t feel right. It either clashed with the tone or it was distracting from what was happening in the scene. Listening to Queen’s music was kind to the ear, but it felt out of place at times.
How about the story? Well, as far as basic story structure and writing goes, it’s nothing special. It carries the same feeling as any other movie that deals with a similar premise. There’s nothing that angered me or that surprised me. As a matter of fact, if this movie wasn’t about Queen, it would be very forgettable.
Then we get to the editing in the movie, this is where any compliments stop. The cuts between scenes add flavor to the scenes, but most of the time, its sloppy and incredibly headache inducing. The pacing is just terrible. The movie stands at a total of 2 hours and 13 minutes, but feels like it’s barely an hour long. This doesn’t give any time for many of the subplots to develop at all and it fails to create a relationship between the viewer and the characters. Because of this, watching the movie felt like a headache.
