Dang. Planning on viewing it twice, but still no idea if i could. You know. .. just a selfish thing. Once for reactions. Second for things overseen. Sounds about right that long time fans may be disappointed. Aargh. I was supposed to have taken opening day off
emrabt · Member since
I was surprised they had “baggage handler” as ‘the’ Pre-Queen job rather than Freddie running the market stall with Roger, but I guess it was easier to introduce Smile, Brian, Roger and Mary all at the same time.
bucsateflon · Member since
After seeing this biopic I feel that it should be categorized more like a fictional drama made for the masses. Judge it like this and movie starts to look good, Rami's performance even better.
This is not a movie made for Queen fans, and therefore analyzing and scrutinizing over false and true facts is really silly for me to do.
user1 · Member since
Seems like they sacked Sacha B Cohen because he wanted to make an r-rated Freddie film :
“Outrageous in terms of his homosexuality and outrageous in terms of endless naked scenes. Sacha loved all of that.”
says Stephen Frears, once hired to be a director of the movie
A film with realistic scenes from Freddie's gay club life would definitely cater to a smaller audience ;)
*goodco* · Member since
Just home from a noon matinee. I don't understand all the intentional timeline errors, the various made up events, etc.
Then again, Connecticut was always on board regarding the 13th Amendment, not as portrayed in 'Lincoln', and Abe did not originate it.
'Darkest Hour': Churchill never rode the subway and had the conversation with passengers.
'JFK'....where to begin?????
'The Doors', well.......
For the 'Queen' experience, we smiled, we were moved, we teared up, and enjoyed it more than I thought we would. We know it was sanitized. And yet, it didn't shy away completely. Will recommend it, and will see it again.
MercurialFreddie · Member since
Just got back from the IMAX theatre. This movie was engaging. The re-created gigs, Queen's conquering the world, Freddie / Mary very romantic XIX century style relationship (signalling each other with the lamps!!!), portraying how lonely Freddie was and giving people insight of how hedonistic world pulled him in (AOBTD scenes - very clever mash-up).
I think that in the second half of the movie Freddie is portrayed as being totally under influence of drugs and alcohol and Prenter and it is too heavy counterweight to the Irst act, in which Freddie is very demanding, boastful, in control, proud.
Some of the scenes which were not true to the timeline and facts were good. Freddie telling the band that he has AIDS but he wants to move on, not whine about it and doesn't want anyone else being over-sympathetic and so on... it showed his strength.
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT: I saw that people were moved, laughed at some of the jokes and I laughed with them (first scene with moustache and Roger's reaction), I saw how deeply emotional they got, how they cried. How after the movie ended, all of those who were there stayed right up till the end of DSMN, and how - after the movie they were discussing it and many "what if"s. What if Freddie, stayed with Mary, what if he didn't got AIDS, what if....
This movie will open Queen to new audiences.
I went to see it with my friend who, basically is an ANTI-FAN and he enjoyed it more than me. He said one very interesting thing:
This movie proves how important Freddie was, that he gave Queen an identity, the shape and character.
TheGame · Member since
Yeah, so the long awaited movie is out.
I took it for what it was, a movie, not a documentary.
Yes, i got confused about the wrong timelines which many have mentioned and all the "fake" scenes, but they tried to compress all the essence of emotions between everyone involved and the "history" within the -1985 time limit. I understand what they tried to achieve and if you look at the bigger pictures, it gives a fair insight of their story.
Yes, i think it could have been better, but i enjoyed it and liked it.
Bit annoying with the aids story at the end, but it had to be there, so i think it was an ok way of doing it.
Looking forward to the blu-ray release and hopefully there will be a extended version on it with some nice extras.
Thistle · Member since
I've finally relented and watched the movie. I was adamant that I wouldn't, but curiosity killed the cat and all that....
No, I wanted to be able to critique it having witnessed it for myself or without relying on what might just be biased reports on the 'net.
I can't add much to the bloopers that everyone noticed. They're all there and plain to see. I thought they'd have ground my gears, but they were easy enough to discard after a while as I understand that certain tweaks had to be made to fit the story.
The main things that annoyed me weren't "tweaks", but downright BS, such as THAT conversation to get "back into the band" and that they insinuated that Live Aid made zero bucks until Queen hit the stage. That pisses on other artists.
Unfortunately, new generations and causal fans will think they now know the story. Far from it.
As for the acting, I thought I'd have hated Malek. He was brilliant, as were the others. They could only do their best with the heap-of-shit script they were given.
It had its moments - both funny and emotional - but overall I won't want to see it again. The shit outweighs the good points.
I've read and taken on board the arguments for and against the movie here, and I've also taken on board the arguments over THAT conversation. Whilst some of it is plausible, I'm not convinced it's anything other than a dig at a dead man. Sure, Freddie might have at some point expressed regret at the Prenter stuff, but we know he didn't cause a two year "break up" of the band. If some of it did happen, they've chosen the wrong way of letting it out.
If you know your stuff, you can either forgive and enjoy or get really pissed off. If you're a casual fan, you'll love it. For what it's worth, the first hour is captivating....until the blatant BS. Some of it is just tactless.
I wish I had just stuck to my guns and not watched it, tbh.
Micrówave · Member since
I loved the movie.
I did not go into it looking to fact check or criticize the actors inaccurate portrayal/looks. Get away from all that, and you will enjoy it as well.
Yes, I’m the one who said this movie would never happen and no one will want to see it.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
YAFFF · Member since
Saw it.
I was going to pretend like I didn't see it since I was basically claiming I wouldn't.....and I caved.
Let me just say this. If you are a casual movie goer who doesn't have a particularly critical outlook on things you will probably love this movie. It's a crowd pleaser. A by-the-numbers cliche'-ridden glorified music video. I completely understand why this is going to be a huge hit. The public loves this stuff and Singer knew how to deliver it. It's light and sweet like White Zinfidel. If you are a tough critic single malt Scotch drinking snob like me AND you know Queen history there's just no way you'll enjoy it that much. Just no way in my mind anyway. And YES Freddie frggin' came crawling back tail beneath his legs begging. I don't know how anyone else got a different take. I almost heckled the movie screen for that scene.
The guy doing Brian May was as perfect as possible. Uncanny. Taylor really takes a backseat to May. He's the impish one who has the least tolerance for Diva Freddie. John is an enigma so it's really hard to judge his portrayel. He was the quietest one and we saw that. Malek was, yeah, slightly better than I expected. It's hard to get over his looks but he was in character. I'm just not sure that character is Freddie Mercury but at least he is not Mr. Robot pretending to be Freddie. He just comes off as a lonely, bratty, selfishly naughty boy who just wanted to be loved. It's the Freddie Mercury the film served up. Yeah some of that is true but Freddie clearly loved gay sex and I doubt it was just him filling a void in his life. PG-13 was a fatal flaw. No I wasn't asking for a lot of sex (I actually hate fictional sex scenes) but this movie just doesn't accurately portray the sheer excess Freddie was up to. For crying out loud how could they not include the "Body Language" video?? The other three's expressions in that video say so much. The bios I've read on Freddie are just so much more entertaining. Granted you can achieve more with a book but I felt condescended to by this limp, sanitized portrayel.
There's some funny moments (like Mike Myers) and the music recreations are undeniably spot on. The manipulation of the storyline just doesn't work for someone who's read five books on Freddie Mercury and seen every interview. When you know its a lie it's hard to be moved. I'm talking about HIV diagnosis pre-Live Aid. I didn't care about mustachio Freddie learning WWRY and other timeline fiction. I'm surprised the gay community hasn't piled on about the way Freddie's sexuality was portrayed. Not overtly in a prejudiced light but ultimately an unfavorable one as if what Freddie was doing was clearly wrong. Look, I reckon almost every rockstar went and got as much sex as it was possible to get. Think about it. Freddie was partying and fucking like almost all of them. It's only seen as risky because of a disease no one knew enough about. It's just wrong place wrong time for someone that preferred men at the time Freddie was doing it. Roger a well-known womanizer but it's only tamely hinted at. Brian is an adulterer but it's only Freddie who is chastised by this movie.
Take my review with a grain of salt because I am hard to please. I can't help it. It's not a terrible movie. It's far from a great movie. The move does not live up to it's taglines "fearless lives forever" and "The only thing more extraordinary than their music is his story". This is a VERY ORDINARY music biopic. That's what they wanted and they got it and it's a box office smash. That leaves me with one thought. Why did they ever care about critical acclaim (yes it bothered them) when they've always gone so far out of their way to do things that are easy to criticize?
Shvili · Member since
Roger has posted some old pics of him and Freddie in Kansington market stall they shared. I've never seen these. Fun :)
I did not go into it looking to fact check or criticize the actors inaccurate portrayal/looks. Get away from all that, and you will enjoy it as well.
Yes, I’m the one who said this movie would never happen and no one will want to see it.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.[/QUOTE]
Good to see you're still around :)
myprettycabinet · Member since
I can't go through the 15+ pages of comments to see if anyone else feels the way I do – but...I thought Malek was a cold fish. He had none of Freddie's joviality, and I felt you could see him remembering the choreography to match Freddie, instead of playing Freddie. I feel he was really bland. He lacks the frenetic energy of Freddie.
