Bohemian Rhapsody (DVD) – Movie Review
Follow Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Director: Bryan Singer
Distributor: 20th Century FOX
Duration: 129 minutes

Bohemian Rhapsody (DVD) – Movie Review

Site Score
7.8
Good: Acting, Information
Bad: A bit slow paced
User Score
7.0
(4 votes)
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Rating: 7.0/10 (4 votes cast)

Bohemian Rhapsody is a song that came out in 1975, yet everyone still knows it to this day. Every year, when the top charts are presented, this title still has a top spot in it, and we can’t disagree with said choice. It was only a matter of time before a movie was made, that based itself on the life of Freddie Mercury, Queen’s legendary lead singer. While the movie may not completely revolve around music and Mercury’s complete life, it does show us a lot of inside information of the period Queen was formed, Mercury’s background and the trouble he went through when he was already famous.

The story of the movie is actually quite easy to explain, without spoiling too much. We’ll see a young Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) who has a day job working at the local airport. His ambitions lie elsewhere however, as he is already stepping away from his Indian roots, making him aim for fame and success. Freddie is born with a unique singing voice, and with a local band losing its lead vocalist, an opportunity arises, allowing Freddie to sing. Time goes by, an album gets recorded, the band is noticed and Queen comes into existence. This is one portion of the movie, the other being Freddie’s personal life, his struggles with his sexuality, his somewhat lonesome life, the lack of self-love, and many other more personal items.

Bohemian Rhapsody is actually a very slow moving movie, which you might not expect when you picture Freddie Mercury, who was a very active and eccentric person. You’ll see a lot of what the band had to deal with, how Mercury coped with certain situations, the choices he made behind the scenes, which eventually lead to his untimely death. There are times the movie bombards you with fun facts, while at other times you might actually find Freddie annoying, but a few moments later he redeems himself, making him very likeable once again. The movie has a strange flow, but it does work if you’re into a drama film, rather than one solely about the music the band created.

Freddie Mercury was a unique character and thus it’s quite hard to play an eccentric character such as him. Rami Malek nailed his performance, and while there are still clear differences in appearance, Freddie Mercury’s mannerism was spot on, and the further the movie progressed, the more you’d see Malek as the ‘real’ Mercury. The singing however, was not entirely done by Malek, as the creators of the movie used Freddie Mercury’s actual voice for many scenes, as well as Marc Matel’s voice, who is a Canadian singer whose voice has many similarities with the late Freddie Mercury. Other than that, we reckon it’s hard speaking with fake teeth in, to recreate Mercury’s somewhat unique dentures, stand alone singing. Malek did sing, but it was later dubbed over, to create the impression that the voice used was actually coming from Malek. Other acting performances were also top notch, but this ‘one-man show’ was carried to the finish line by Malek.

The DVD edition of Bohemian Rhapsody comes with only one special feature, namely the complete reenacted Live Aid concert Queen did in 1985. You’ll get to hear the full set they played in 85, albeit with the cast of the movie on stage and snippets of other cast members that did not attend the actual concert. Overall this is a nice extra, but it would have been better if there was more on this disc revolving around Freddie Mercury, or Queen as a whole. That being said, the concert is fun to play in the background when you need a healthy fix of Queen.

Conclusion

The movie of Bohemian Rhapsody will probably not break as many records as the actual song, but it does portray a decent portion of Freddie Mercury’s life, or at least the part revolving around Queen and his own issues during that time. The movie will shed a different light on the troubled performer, sometimes making it hard to choose if you have to sympathize with him or not. Nonetheless, those who wish to learn more about Mercury and the band itself, will find a lot of information in this movie that is not known for the casual fan.

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Bohemian Rhapsody (DVD) - Movie Review, 7.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings
Ibuki


Aspiring ninja.

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