Bohemian Rhapsody: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Bohemian Rhapsody has been in development since 2010 and immediately got everyone excited to hear that character actor, Sacha Baron-Cohen was attached to play front man Freddie Mercury. Then something happened and someone decided that a fun movie was better than a guaranteed Academy Award.
::If you want to know more about this movies timeline, Vulture.com has a great article up right now::
However, the time to talk about what this movie could-have-been is over, now we have to talk about what this movie is.
Its entertaining. I enjoyed this movie and its characters performances. I enjoyed a matinee audience reaction during particular line deliveries. I enjoyed the musical numbers/performances. I also enjoyed the narrative it delivered despite being more artistic license than historical record. I enjoyed the IMAX display in the final concert scene which is a green screen recreation of Live Aid.
If you heard ep 48 of our Microdose podcast, you know Kai freely admit he knows of Queen and some of their music, but aside from Mercury didnt know the rest of the band. I admitted to him and the rest of you that I didnt either. And when we leave this movie you still dont recall who is who. You have Freddie. You have Brian the Yin to Freddies non-pun Yang. Then theres the Blonde dentist and the bass player who just shares Freddies debut performance and then hes usually all the way in the background. I almost thought we were going to get a Spinal Tap-esq rotation of Basests.
Its hard to know what is fact from legend, not just in this movie, but behind the scenes of this movie. Its said the surviving members of the band had more influence and control over the narrative of this movie. If thats true, they didnt really do themselves any favors. There are times when the band is frustrated with Mercurys nonsense, but then theres times when theyre just being pissy, til Mercurys plan or other good news comes in and then they knew this would be the outcome all along.
Rami Malek from Mr Robot takes the material he was given and makes it his character. He plays Mercury very open and free. To the point where it may even be more over the top than the real figure was. If this were a stage play then Malek is playing not just to the top of the theater, but through the roof.
For 2 hours and 20 mins, I dont feel the run time at all. I would say that if you have a 4K tv with an awesome sound system at home, you can wait for the digital release. Otherwise, this is a great event movie. I only wish I could have coordinated my screening better to see it with a bigger crowd. Its definitely a PG13, and quite frankly, thats ok even though your kids see more graphic stuff on FX these days.
Itll be a better movie in 25 years when they remake it without any restrictions.
Three out of Six Blueberries.
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