Make way for Your Highness, Freddie Mercury! The highly anticipated movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, illustrates the journey of Freddie Mercury as the lead singer of the British rock band, Queen. The movie outlines his humble beginnings as a worker at Heathrow Airport to the renowned lead singer of Queen, while emphasizing the challenges the band faced on its road to stardom. Released on November 2, this movie has brought in $77.265 million since November 10 according to Forbes. Although lacking in some areas, Bohemian Rhapsody is overall a well-produced movie.
The lacking areas of the movie include its lack of depth into Freddie Mercury’s romantic life and its limited scope of audience. Freddie Mercury’s various partners are shown in the movie, but his conflicting sexual identities are only briefly mentioned, leaving the watcher with questions about his private life. The producers hinted at his bisexuality very subtly, masking it with his seemingly undying love to his ex-fiance, Mary. Although this subtlety was a bit confusing, it ultimately helped illustrate the overall conflict in Freddie’s life outside of the band. The producers make up for this shortcoming by including scenes depicting the stress of his bisexuality, pushing forward a general theme: “money cannot buy happiness.”
The movie also lacks in its unattractiveness to individuals who do not necessarily recognize Queen or their songs. It is hard to relate to the story line without listening to the band’s songs, as the movie does a great job of highlighting their iconic song, while including some of their less known tracks. Hence the title, the movie highlighted Queen’s rise to success in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which was followed by the revolutionary crowd-engaging “We Will Rock You” and various other hits. Indeed, this movie is said to have something for all, but it is targeted towards a very specific audience that includes music lovers and Queen fans.
Despite its few shortcomings, this movie is a great biopic that successfully captures the journey of Freddie Mercury. Although there is little content about Freddie’s humble beginnings, the movie compensates by highlighting the evolving character of a rockstar. In the beginning scenes, Freddie is depicted as an innocent boy with a dream. By the middle of the narrative, Freddie transforms into a greedy and egotistical man who dominates his band. The producers succeeded in framing Freddie as the “Queen,” as they portray his stubbornness and consistent fighting with the other band members. Towards the end, a change of heart occurs, turning Freddie into a passionate leader, who thrives on the cooperation of his band. This changing character of Queen’s lead singer showed the backstory of the band’s success, as their popularity did not come without costs. At the same time, these setbacks showed the band’s unity, as they remained a family despite the challenges.
Bohemian Rhapsody is so much more than just a camera following the career of a rockstar. It touches the ecstatic points of life as well as its depressing aspects.
Bohemian Rhapsody currently has a rating of 8.4/10 on IMDb and 62% on Rotten Tomatoes.