Review: Bohemian Rhapsody
It seems rather ironic that the film biopic of one of the most charismatic lead singers in one of the most uncategorisable bands should be so formulaic and by-the-numbers. Yet that is exactly what Bohemian Rhapsody, which charts the rise and heyday of Freddie Mercury and Queen, is.
It certainly isn't wholly Rami Malek's fault for the Mr. Robot star delivers a convincing job of incarnating Mercury's singular peacocking flamboyance and conveying the singer's loneliness despite being adored by millions of fans. It is not a perfect performance - with Malek there's always an over-reliance of tics and mannerisms and, as remarkable as he is in capturing Mercury's moves and gestures, there's still an underlying sense that it's all choreography rather than an extension of the performer and the spirit of the music - but at least it gives a reason for the film to exist.
Otherwise, Bohemian Rhapsody is a reductive, superficial and sanitised affair, duly ticking off the relevant points in Mercury's life without necessarily delving too deep into a man who was as multitudinous as his music. There's Mercury, ée Farrokh Bulsara, working as an baggage handler by day and cruising the clubs at night, rebelling against his stiff and conservative parents. He goes to listen to a band named Smile, who just so happen to lose their lead singer after the gig. Though guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) joke that they can't have a lead singer with teeth like Mercury's, he shuts them down with an impromptu audition that demonstrates his vocal range, which he attributes to being born with four additional incisors.
With new bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) joining the band, the quartet are soon going from playing local gigs to selling their van to produce their first album to being signed by a major record label to becoming a worldwide sensation. "We're four misfits who don't belong together playing to the other misfits...we belong to them," Mercury says, explaining what makes Queen different from other bands. Of course, the band's unique selling point apart from their music was Mercury himself, whose flamboyant sense of style and ability to infect the audiences with his unbridled joy and theatricality, not to mention rumoured drug use and homosexuality, was fast overshadowing Queen and the music.
Unfortunately, Mercury's complexities feel trite in the filmmakers' hands. If Mercury struggled with his sexuality, there's no evidence of that in the film. Not that Mercury's relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) is any more fully developed. One doesn't fully feel the depth of the love that Mercury harboured for his one-time fiancee whom he would forever consider his common law wife and the person who knew him best. That said, the scene in which they signal to one another with their lamplights is one of the most unexpectedly moving in the film.
Despite its many failings, there is no denying the music and the phenomenal recreation of the band's legendary Live Aid set, which is considered by many to be the greatest rock performance of all time. This is the moment when Bohemian Rhapsody finally takes flight, breaking the boundaries within which it had confined itself, and embracing viewers into the exhilaration of witnessing a rock god in his absolute glory.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Written by: Anthony McCarten
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aiden Gillen, Allen Leach, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers, Aaron McCusker, Dermot Murphy
