Champions of Arena Rock

The story of the ever popular 1970’s British rock group ‘Queen’ is the fascinating subject of director Bryan Singer’s (‘The Usual Suspects,’ everything ‘X-Men’) latest biopic starring Rami Malek (‘Mr. Robot’) as its flamboyant and colorful frontman, Freddie Mercury.  Being a fan of Rock & Roll! during my youth (which includes now) as well as “musical” films in general, going to see a movie like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was never in doubt.

 

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ had all the familiar elements we would expect in a musical biopic.  Humble beginnings and early struggles, check.  Meteoric rise, check.  Friction and "fights" between the lead singer and his band mates, check.  Struggling with one's own identity, check.  Reconciliation and redemption, check.  We’ve seen it all before in various other movies – biopics and fiction alike – ranging from Val Kilmer’s ‘The Doors’ to Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Walk the Line’ to Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Rockstar,’ so I can’t really imagine what the professional critics whose negative reviews contributed to the lukewarm 62 percent score BR earned on Rotten Tomatoes were expecting from a film that did everything right other than perhaps they’re just not much of a ‘Queen’ fan.

 

For those of us ‘Queen’ fans, BR has much to offer including many of the band’s greatest hits.  The song-by-song recreation of Queen’s 1985 Live Aid segment at the end of the movie alone is worth the price of admission.  Yes, the film only glosses over the “heavier” themes of Freddie’s loneliness/isolation and homosexuality, and yes, this movie is decidedly more style than substance, but we love ‘Queen’ precisely because their songs are catchy and theatrical, not because they’re deep or profound.

Grade: A
 

 

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