'Bohemian Rhapsody' movie reviews & impressions

Freddie Mack on the movie - spot on:

https://www.facebook.com/thefreddiemack/videos/312552956012845/

Double post.

Agree or disagree with his assessment but he's hardly gonna be unbiased!!

I've seen the movie as soon as it premiered in my country, on the 31st of october. I have to say I disliked the movie... It's badly directed... somo scenes make no sense.. what a shame! This is of course Freddie's story, not Queen's story, so Bri, Rog and John get only a few appereances. But if it's about Freddie, why do we get the stage Fred and not the intimate Fred, the shy Fred. Fred's in and out of stage has always the same persona.. Pitty! The cronological differences with songs and stuff are a bit annoying... Imo Rami didn't do a great job... His Live Aid scenes were very mechanic and with low intensity... Bri and John were phisically lookalikes! Nicelly done! Rog not so much! They could have done so much better!
Is it true Freddie gave a ring to Mary when proposing to her?

Finally saw it, honestly wasn't as bad as I expected. I'm not that fussed on the chronological reworks - they make sense when you consider that they wanted to put a timeskip between 1975 and 1980, but still wanted to include FBG and WWRY. Similarly, I was fine with it having been 'years' since they'd played together prior to Live Aid - works for dramatic effect.

Less forgivable is the lousy dialogue - some really on the nose moments. I almost laughed out loud when Freddie broke out in song on the street. I'm almost certain Brian never said the words 'We need to get experimental' in the studio. And a grievance I've aired before, they could've at least made sure they were being musically accurate - the scene where Freddie tells Roger to sing the melody 'higher' is ridiculous to anyone who knows how pitch and melody work. I think the worst bit was 'You're a legend Fred' - 'We're all legends'. People don't talk like that, and it doesn't make for a very convincing biopic when the characters seem to have retroactive understanding of their historical significance.

I think it actually needed to be longer. The chronology flies past at such a speed that you don't have time to emotionally connect, which means the key emotional beats don't resonate. Some have said that it's trying to be both a Queen movie and a Freddie movie at once, and hence failing at both. I agree to an extent, but I think people would've been upset if they'd not had a scene about the recording of We Will Rock You. It was always gonna be a matter of compromise and pleasing as many people as possible, and a hard character study of Freddie, at the expense of including crowd-pleasing moments, was never gonna happen on official funding.

Costuming and stage design were all pretty wonderful. My one hangup - why didn't they bother with Roger's shorter hair for Live Aid? They got everyone else's completely accurate, including the subtle changes in the straightness/curliness of Brian and Freddie's hair from 1970-1973. Why skimp out on that one final change?

Possibly cause the guy doesn't want to be seen unfavorably with a melon head. ..but who knows. I'm just glad others realize how completely retarded most of the dialogue in that film is.

I'm going to probably watch it again once it leaves the main cinemas and goes to the local $3 theater (older films and duds)

I think the movie is a huge success not because It's a great movie, It's on the strength of the music. It's reaching a new generation. Hearing those songs on the big screen Is what's making people go see it 3 times. Making people think the movie is great when It's not. I also think people like love stories, and the Freddie/Mary, Love Of My Life storyline was the other strength of the movie...I guess casual fans are looking past or not noticing all It's flaws.

[QUOTE] [b]mike hunt wrote:[/b]

I think the movie is a huge success not because It's a great movie, It's on the strength of the music. It's reaching a new generation. Hearing those songs on the big screen Is what's making people go see it 3 times. [/QUOTE]

Yep! Judging by new YouTube comments on all the videos, there is a huge new generation! And not just the US hits, people are watching non-hits too!

[QUOTE] [b]Viper wrote:[/b]
Is it true Freddie gave a ring to Mary when proposing to her?[/QUOTE]

Wasn't there a big box with smaller boxes? But otherwise true I think. A big fact-check project on the movie should be done.

I saw it yesterday. I won't go over *all* the strengths and weaknesses as others have mentioned them already, plus the film is a bit of entertaining fluff that doesn't deserve much reflection. The film is a roller coaster ride -- very fast paced, and it skims over important issues, events and themes that needed more time to unfold and needed to be handled with more subtlety. Some of the dialogue was laughably bad, and some scenes were clearly designed to make Brian May look saintly, or in one case to make Queen look like they saved Live Aid from total disaster. For example, IIRC it was the famine video with The Cars song "Drive" which led to the boost in donations, as well as Geldof's famous "fuck the address" comment on Live tv, which showed his sense of frustration with both the BBC and that there weren't enough donations coming in. I thought Fred's sexuality was handled fairly well. It showed his inner turmoil and it didn't say, as some have accused, that Fred being gay caused the problems with the band. Instead, it clearly paints Prenter as the villain, the rejected lover, who encouraged Fred to overindulge in risky sexual and druggy excess. So the film argues that being gay isn't "wrong", but that Prenter exploited Fred then sold him out to the press. It also clearly makes the case that being gay isn't a choice and that Fred wasn't bisexual, which undermines the alternative conservative p.o.v. In short, there is no credibility in the early social media furore that the film indulges in "gay shaming".

Overall I enjoyed it more than I thought. There are compromises that need to be made to fit 25 years of a person's life into a 2-hour film and while there are some historical inaccuracies that grate (that awful scene where Fred begs to get back in the band -- what a fucking joke that is!), the overall story is a truthful, albeit highly stylised version of events. It is, at times, funny, sad, loud, cheesy, and annoying, but it is entertaining in a very simplified Hollywood way. It's clear what its market is, and based on that it is a success.

The Cars "Drive" @ Live Aid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZG3ZLQ4MO8

You forgot to mention that scene clearly designed to make Freddie look saintly, the one were he says he doesn't betray his "family" and kicks out hes manager.

I actually really liked it... A lot. Please don't hurt me! :D

Brian May did indeed get the most sympathetic representation. Having seen the film, I truly think it's not as much a case of Brian and Roger meddling, as it is that they needed to simplify the three bandmates into caricatures for storytelling purposes.

It's an interesting topic, this idea that the film is somehow homophobic. It's an utterly ridiculous assertion, to be honest. I've seen many people claim that the movie depicts AIDS as a punishment which Freddie deserved for his promiscuous lifestyle. I have no idea where one would draw this conclusion, and I can only conclude that it's a whole bunch of projection.

It was always going to be a difficult thing for them to depict. The fact is, when Freddie first began to embrace his homosexuality, he was at the same time also beginning to take hard drugs, and generally being less judicious about who he let into his life (Prenter). Then, yes, he got AIDS as a result of years of unprotected gay sex with strangers. Nobody is suggesting that he deserved that, but it is what happened.

The film shows these events in sequence, and certain people seem to be inferring that the film thinks Freddie's homosexuality in itself was immoral and destructive.

Something felt wrong to me about the depiction of Live Aid and I've just figured it out - nobody was sweaty in the film version. Look at the audience shots in the real footage - everyone is soaked in sweat. Freddie has sweat on his face the moment he steps on stage.

Yep I've noticed Rami wasn't sweaty. It's an aspect that enhances the lack of intensity of his moves I've mentioned before.