As is the case with many biopics (since being hosed over by, what I believed to be, a movie based entirely on a true story in Remember the Titans), I like to read about what parts of the movie were truly true and which parts were fictional to tell a better story. A good biopic often becomes a great biopic when you learn that what you saw on screen happened in real life. A  good movie that bases its claim on being a true story or inspired by true events but one that you later find out has been predominantly fictionalized loses a lot of its original appeal. And, honestly, there is no bigger dagger to a movie that I love when I learn that what I thought was a true story turns out to be not nearly as much as I thought? Truthfully, how can you call a movie a biopic which, by definition, is a biographical movie when parts of the movie are either made up or sequenced in ways that weren’t truthful? Is the goal to honor the true story or to tell a better one and call it true? In the real world, that’s called fraud. So after learning that Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, one of the most influential rock bands of all time, wasn’t actually diagnosed with AIDS until 1987, two years AFTER Live Aid, despite telling his band members BEFORE Live Aid in the movie that he had contracted the virus, a lot of the movie’s credibility was shot out the window. However, despite many of its historical inaccuracies, I’m not going to trash a decent film that tried to do a lot right. If I did that, then I feel I would have to go back and scrutinize some of my other favorite biopics with the same fine comb. First of all, I have no desire to do that. Secondly, I don’t want to learn that some of my favorite movies I thought to be true 100% true was not (i.e., Remember the Titans). As you can see, this movie took a lot of liberties.

Bryan Singer’s (Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects) take on the origin story of Mercury (Rami Malek – Papillon, USA Mr. Robot) and Queen is one that mostly showcases the dynamic between the flamboyant lead singer and his three, true to the music, bandmates. In many ways, this was your typical rags to riches story, but in many ways, it also was not. Apparently, this movie left out a lot, and this is why it is being hit so hard by the critics. 59% is not a terrible aggregate, but there is certainly a gap between the 93% audience score. Unlike me, I think a lot of critics were aware of the story behind Mercury and Queen. I can imagine that many were upset with how much was left out and how much was changed. And I understand that completely. As I look at this history vs. Hollywood website, it seems like the completely fictionalized Rock of Ages (a movie that I, ironically, watched just a few days ago and that I had no idea was a musical) was more accurate than Bohemian Rhapsody. What I hoped would be an exciting account of a band that I knew very little about turned out to be a largely biased recreation of history. Has my displeasure with the liberties that Singer took caught on yet? What makes it even worse was that Singer was fired as the director of this movie. His tense relationship with Malek fizzled over after Singer failed to show up on set on multiple days. Dexter Fletcher (Eddie the Eagle, Sunshine on Leith) came on and finished the film, yet he isn’t even listed in the directing credits!

There were many good things about Bohemian Rhapsody. I’m not sure if I was more impressed with Malek as Mercury or the music. I’ll start with Malek because the music, while fantastic, is complicated. Malek continues to nail every role he is in. He is definitely a method actor who studies every nuance of every character he portrays. Known mostly for his already iconic role as the anxiety-ridden talented computer programmer Elliot Anderson in USA’s Mr. Robot, Malek already has an Emmy win (2015’s Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series). With television as good as it’s been in the last decade, winning this award has as much legitimacy as winning an Oscar. If you’ve seen the show, you know how good Malek is. If you’ve seen Papillon, Short Term 12, you have been equally impressed. But for many, this will be the first time they’ve seen Malek on film. And, if it is, boy are you in for a treat. In fact, you’ll probably be searching his filmography as soon as you get home.

Malek nailed it as the awkward and aloof Mercury, all the way from his signature buck teeth to how he walked to how he interacted with the different people in his life. He was a showman, first and foremost. With the cameras and lights on him, he shined. But as secure as he was in the public spotlight, he was even more secure outside of it. Physically, the feature that most predominantly stands out about Mercury is his teeth. Well-known was his self-consciousness about having four extra teeth at the back of his mouth that pushed his front teeth is an extremely noticeable overbite. However, Mercury refused to under surgery to fix the issue, mostly because he thought it would affect his singing voice. When he meets his future bandmates, lead guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee), drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy – X-Men: Apocalypse, Only the Brave), for the first time, he begins singing just seconds after the two men said, “not with those teeth, mate” when Mercury asks them if he could be their new lead singer. He wins them over after singing just a single verse of one of their songs. He tells them that the extra space in his mouth allows him to have more vocal range. He’s quickly hired. Mercury’s unique vision and creative song lyrics and beats quickly fuse with May and Taylor, who very much look and act like your traditional rock and roll stars of the mid-1970s. When bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello – G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Social Network), they have a, as close as brothers, foursome.

Without giving away too much of the story, I will safely say that Mercury was born to be a rock star but was not given the necessary set of skills to excel in his personal life. Born in Zanzibar (not Tanzania) in 1945, Mercury, his parents, and his younger sister were forced to flee the country during the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, a war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Indians and Arabs. Fearing the safety of their family, Freddie’s parents moved the family to the UK. Freddie earned a degree from college but was often seen butting heads with his traditional father, who disapproved of his going out each night while alluding to undertones about his son’s sexuality. A perfectionist in every sense of the word, Mercury was shaped by Presley, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, as well as the Indian music he listened to growing up. His wide array of influences formed his style. But away from the music, Mercury struggled immensely with insecurity and a need to be accepted. You can’t talk about Freddy for too long without bringing up Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton – Sing Street, Murder on the Orient Express), his best friend, and acknowledged the person he trusted most in the world. Their friendship and belief in one another is something that even the strongest of marriages might envy. The two met in 1969 and were engaged in 1973. They did not marry. One night, Mercury came out to her and told her he was bi-sexual, but he made her promise never to take off the engagement ring. When Queen made it big, he bought the two houses next to one another with bedroom windows that faced each other. Mercury is quoted in interviews as saying she was the love of his life and that the two definitely would have married if he had not been attracted to men, most notably Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker). Instead, the two had a quiet and reserved private life.

The second best part of the movie was the music. A lot of the music was straight recording from the albums, but we also get a mix of Malek and a man named Marc Matel, who has previously won huge plaudits for his inimitable takes of Queen on YouTube. Much too often, you can tell when one is lip-syncing. What’s ironic about Bohemian Rhapsody is that you know that the sound coming out of Malek’s mouth is Mercury’s voice, but you cannot at all notice visually that he isn’t singing it. While not a musical, you are never far from creating a song or the next stage performance. It was fascinating to watch the songs being written and practiced for the first time for someone who didn’t know much about Queen. I even got the sequencing of which songs were written in their correct order. And the songs were fun. Absolutely known as one of the best bands at earning audience involvement, the song’s origin, “We Will Rock You,” was especially cool. The last 20 minutes of the movie is actually a complete recreation of the band’s 20-minute performance at 1985’s Live Aid. And for someone who hadn’t watched this performance on YouTube, it was a treat. Again, with parts of the story being a work of fiction, it is stated that the band agreed to perform at the last minute and that Mercury had told his former bandmates (they had broken up at the time) that he was diagnosed with AIDS and didn’t know how much longer he would live. We know that he wasn’t diagnosed until two years later, and the band had never broken up. The movie blatantly said that they would be playing a 20-minute set in front of the largest audience in music history without having practiced in years. This is fiction and lessens the story. But it doesn’t take away from the performance at Wembley Stadium in front of 70,000 screaming fans. It was cool to watch.

The main problem with the movie was clearly its elements of fiction. It’s frustrating why Hollywood just can’t tell the story as it happened. It’s still a good enough story. It’s not like you are telling the story of an accounting auditor or a dentist. This is Queen! The two directors clearly did not help. Bohemian Rhapsody clocked in at 2 hours and 15 minutes. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with how slow it was at times. Again, this is Queen! How can a movie about such a unique rock band drag during huge chunks of time? It really is unacceptable to me. Fewer moments of nothing happening and more music. We get it. Freddie was gay and was insecure off the stage. He loved Mary Austin and wish he could have had the life with her that would have been accepted in those times. This could have been done in fewer minutes. There was no strife with the band, nor was there a breakup of it. What is the purpose of the 8-10 minutes throughout the course of the film about these issues that did not occur? It’s so very frustrating.

See Bohemian Rhapsody and see it on the big screen. Its deficiencies do not take away from its, at times, pure elegance. Malek’s performance is Oscar-worthy in a film that will receive no consideration for best picture. Sure, that happens, but it’s an exception to the rule rather than the rule. The lack of direction is apparent but can be forgotten, at times, with the musical performances that are frequently exemplary. It’s a fun film and a good escape. If you want to enjoy it even more than I did, do not look at the Real vs. Reel webpage.

Plot 8/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 7.5/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing  7.5/10
Cinematography 9.5/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
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