User reviews

I just saw the world premiere and oh boy let me tell you about it:

This movie might not be a masterpiece but my heart is filled with such happiness and joy after watching it that I think it's going to burst (sorry for the cheesiness), Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon are so exquisitely portrayed I sometimes forgot it wasn't them, the performances were so on point and so powerful you could feel the energy burst through the screen. ¿Have you seen the famous car scene in Wayne's world? well, now imagine a full room doing the same, people couldn't help but sing along (lets be honest, it's impossible not too).

I laughed, cried, sang and wished I could have seen Queen live, this band will live forever.

This movie was a brilliant portrayal of the mixed up life, and massive talent that was Mercury ... and that is in no way meant to diminish the other fabulous musicians who made up this wonderful band. Whilst Freddie's life and death are quite well documented, his inner turmoil is not - this movie opens this up for all to see, and highlights actions and individuals who had a large influence on his fragile life, both good and horrendously bad. If only he could have been happy with the knowledge that he had one of the best singing voices, if not THE best, that ever fronted a rock band. Rami Malek does a wonderful job of portraying him, and in so many ways has captured his mannerisms to a tee. Loved it, and listening to the music in an IMAX auditorium was brilliant.

This movie is a must see for any music and movie lover Queen fan or no Queen fan,anyone who sees this movie will be going through a rollercoaster of Emotions Beeing it Queens music or the story behind the music Rami Malek puts down an excellent version of Freddie Mercury, but all the actors play great in this movie In my opinion best thing to do is ignore the criticism and go see it for yourself.

I'm a 75 yr old Gramma that saw this movie with her son and grandson. We all Loved it! I "heard" Queen music as I worked and raised my 4 children, but never really knew the band it came from. My children Lived with Queen music, and totally identified with them, especially in their band performances. My grandson heard Queen because his father played it all the time. We saw this movie as a family and the movie was about family, friends, and loyalty. The typical band movie is about rising-to-fame, falling-from-fame. This movie is about hanging together as family, as loyal friends ..something we Really need more of today!! The 2 :15 time frame flies by and you're left wanting more...more... more... Rami Malek is awesome as Freddie! He, his 3 co-stars, last director, music director, and entire crew deserve nominations! See this in a theatre that has great sound where you can appreciate the depth of the music! One of my most favorite movies in 75 years!

Wow! I feel mind-blown after watching the world premiere yesterday evening. I am whether a megahuge Queen fan (although I really like many of their songs), nor do I know how accurate the storytelling is (, but I suppose pretty accurate since both Brian May and Roger Taylor are co-producers of the film), but I found the movie both intoxicating and moving. I have read some of the professional reviews, and I cannot comprehend their search of documentary wisdom in this movie; this is not a documentary, but an entertaining story of one of the world's most iconic bands. And the film delivers on all aspects. (And the critics were so wrong about the song Bohemian Rhapsody upon its release).

As Brian May pinpointed in the interview on the red carpet, he found that the casting was excellent (I don't remember the exact word he used). But he is so right. Every major role is perfectly casted, and all the band members are brilliant. But I must emphasize Rami Malek's role as Freddie. It has Oscar written all over it. What he does, is almost beyond comparison. Chapeau for even taking on this role, and then delivering what he does. Even better, although marginally, than Michael Douglas in Behind the Candelabra. And Gwilym Lee as Brian May is also a bull's eye, but Malek really carries the production on his tiny shoulders. It was like watching our beloved Freddie all over again.

Many, many memorable moments, but the Live Aid performance recreated: it is one of the best scenes I have ever seen - and I have seen lots and lots of films. Chapeau for director(s) and producers and the whole team for to me delivering the best film YTD in 2018!!

I dont know how to elaborate more than this. If you are 35 and younger, you will understand after seeing this movie.

What a night this was! I went to the world premiere in my local theatre with the purple carpet event on the big screen and all that jazz.

When I saw the first trailer I didn't think much about Rami Malek as Freddie or the whole movie at all since the majority of biopics are generic and pretty much formulaic. Back then, I even considered dropping Sacha Baron Cohen a huge mistake. But boy was I wrong. Malek shined like he's never shone before. I think Susie Figgis outdid herself as a casting director here.

Ever since I joined the casting industry, I really started seeing what it means to work here, how important this part of showbiz that is, and how just a single miscast can ruin a project. Susie Figgis is a veteran casting director, known for many big and widely loved projects and she did well here. She did extremely well. Up until the moment I joined this business, I paid little to no attention to the actor ensemble, with the exception of clear miscasts that just stood out and you couldn't unsee it. But yesterday I just sat there, mesmerized. Gwilym Lee did an outstanding job portraying Brian May, in fact, I forgot he wasn't him. Lucy Boynton was one of my absolute favorites, portraying Mary Austin and her love and devotion towards Freddie. And Rami Malek. Oh, boy, Rami *was* Freddie Mercury. While I was sitting there in the theatre and staring at the screen I didn't have a feeling I was watching actors play their parts. I felt like I was watching Queen.

I don't have much to say about the plot, or the costumes, the setting, the cast. Everything was close to perfection. A perfect balance of drama and comedy. Exactly how life is.

I was five when my dad came to me, kneeled, put his large and on my tiny shoulder and delivered the tragic news about Freddie passing. Queen was basically the soundtrack of my upbringing, so I didn't take the news too well. I wept like I've just lost a dear friend. Dad and I spent the remainder of that afternoon blasting the tracks we oh so loved.

Queen has been the soundtrack of my life, therefore it's impossible to have an unbiased opinion about 'Rhapsody', but I must admit I had my reservations at first. But in the end, I loved it. The last twenty minutes of the film I spend sobbing and wiping the tears and mascara tracks from my cheeks. I can't remember the last time I cried this much in a movie. And I don't know if it was the music, Freddie's tragic fate or the relationships he had, both with lovers and his family, or maybe it was an amalgam of everything, but from the first minutes the movie started building up, it rose block by block until the huge skyscraper that the story was, finally concluded and all the lights turned on and it shined like a marvelous gem.

Until this day, Live Aid remains the biggest, most epic music event in the history of civilization and it is remembered by millions. And _Bohemian Rhapsody_ did it justice. Malek did justice to Freddie. And I left my seat long after the credits had stopped rolling. The show must go on, and it does.

For those of us of a certain age Queen, and especially Freddie, defined us. Sitting through this movie I had goosebumps. The casting just works and watching the actors playing May and Deacon you'd be forgiven in thinking someone had access to a time machine. Even Kenny Everett was instantly recognisable. I left this movie a strange combination of elated and terribly sad. Elated to hear the music, watch the story and yet sad that Freddie was so desperately lonely. Ultimately, I think Freddie would have approved of the whole thing. His genius and flamboyance shone through. Truly brilliant.

This has got to be the most overrated film in recent history. Overrated by the audience. Critics got it right this time, even though they rarely do.

Rami Malek offered a great impression of Freddie Mercury. But impression it was. He failed to capture the essence, the exoticness of the real Freddie, and his manliness. Rami's acting made Freddie looked like a generic gay man, which Freddie wasn't. Freddie's might have been a weirdo, but never acted like a sissy. At times, his acting simply looked ugly, such as his exaggerated emphasis on Freddie's incisors. You can easily verify what I am saying by searching for videos of the real Freddie Mercury, and you can see the real Freddie never acted the way as portrayed by Rami. Sacha Baron Cohen, the original actor slated to play Freddie, might have been a better choice.

The worst part of the movie was the script. Far too much "creative liberty" was taken to alter historical events. Omitting details for clarity, adding details to fill in the blanks, compressing events to fit his career in a 2-hour movie, that's normal. But Queen never broke up! Freddie making a solo was never a betrayal! What the heck? As if the life of Freddie bloody Mercury wasn't legendary enough, the writers had to throw in fictional events to fill up the runtime. This is disrespectful to Freddie's legacy and his fans, and at the same time misleading to the youth, into thinking he's a self-centered a-hole (well, more of a self-centered a-hole).

So much of the movie was revolved around Freddie's relationship with Mary Austin. Then all of a sudden, in one short scene Jim Hutton was introduced (with yet another unnecessary historical inaccuracy). And that was it. When Jim reappeared at the end of the movie, I almost forgot who he was. Jim was supposed to be the other love of Freddie's life, and the screenwriters made them fell in love in one short conversation, never to meet again until the end?

Then finally it comes to the music. There are times the editors cram in the songs for the sake of playing Queen's songs, without adding to the narrative of the movie. Heck, they re-enacted 70% of the whole Wembley concert, and yet you can easily find the original performance even on YouTube. If they had to invest that much runtime in one event, they'd better not skim over other important events... oh, wait. For a proper music biographical film, try "Ray" (2004).

The movie wasn't bad. Just not worth all the praise it's been getting.

Rami Malek will be forever one of my favorite actors since the day I've watched Mr Robot, I knew he will be one of the biggest star someday. Freddie Mercury is legend, everyone loves him but not everyone knows his story. Freddy Mercury is fearless, but not everyone knows about his desperately lonely. I dont't know how accurate the storytelling is but this movie is absolutely mind blowing and brilliant, such a perfect tribute to the legend!

I'm not saying this movie is perfect or masterpiece, infact this movie has some issues with the director and delayed. But after I walk out of the theater, my heart is filled with joy, tears of happiness, brought so many emotions. That's how you know the movie is fantastic, darling. The casting was brilliant, bravo! I can't get enough with Rami Malek, he obviously worked so hard, Rami Malek pulls off an amazing performance, he just brings Freddie back to life and I don't think you will see any better film about Freddie Mercury again. It's an oppurtunity of a lifetime, every aspects of this movie was executed beautifully. Also the whole cast was so close to perfection! Gwilym as Brian May, Ben as Roger, and Joseph as John are amazing as Rami. Truly magnificent. I recommend to go and see this movie, whether you are fans of Queen or not.

It's not surprising to me that Bohemian Rhapsody was a hit. Queen have always been a popular and well-loved band, and even if some consider it overplayed, the song this film is named after is undoubtedly iconic and quite the musical achievement. What does surprise me is just how much of a hit this was, raking in something close to a billion US dollars worldwide and earning several Academy Awards. If I'd watched it before the hype, I'm sure I would have found it a solid yet potentially unmemorable music biopic and then moved on, only to be surprised when it got the kind of acclaim, box office results, and awards attention it did.

It also puts me in a position where much of what can be said about Bohemian Rhapsody has already been said. The criticism when it comes to some aspects of this film have been extensive, so I will briefly say that I agree with many of them. A harder edged look at Freddie Mercury would have been much better, because the film can only scratch the surface when it comes to his lifestyle, partying, and the various partners he had throughout his career. The pacing is a little too frantic, and some scenes are put together in a rather gimmicky, blunt manner (the biggest offender for me was the press meeting scene, where Mercury becomes overwhelmed at all the repetitive questions being thrown at him; it was filmed and edited in a way that I thought would look tacky in a student film, let alone a large scale Hollywood production). Then there's the whole matter of the surviving band members' involvement, including speculation that they wanted to tone down any edgy aspects and also make themselves look good in the process (oh! And give the actors that depict them more screen time. I think a lot of the clunky filmmaking and editing choices come down to those surviving band members wanting to increase the amount of time their personas were in the movie. This creates an awkward sensation where Bohemian Rhapsody is something in-between a Freddie Mercury biopic and a Queen biopic, but failing to truly excel in either regard). And then there's the matter of historical accuracy, which is ignored in some areas, but is far from an unforgivable sin for the most part, as far as I'm concerned.

Rami Malek was highly praised for his depiction of Mercury and to be honest, he was good? But not fantastic. I think the fake teeth did a lot of the acting for him, and giving a good impression of a well-known historical figure certainly takes skill, but I'm not as blown away by what he did as many seem to be. Everyone else in the cast ranged from just okay to decent- there weren't really many standouts.

The soundtrack is fun but it's Queen, so what else would you expect? Additionally, Bohemian Rhapsody is thankfully not boring; I guess a positive aspect of the frenetic, exhausting pace is that the film is never given the opportunity to drag. It's really the Live Aid concert recreation that saves this movie, and in the end, I almost wished I was watching that for two hours instead of the rest of this movie... which I still can't say is terrible. That concert recreation is a decent pay-off, and the movie is somewhat engaging and with a good (still not great, in my opinion) lead performance at its centre. It just failed to move or entertain or shock or make me think much beyond that. It's a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon movie, but beyond that, include me among the people who otherwise don't really understand what all the fuss was about.

I am clearly in the minority, and do not understand the love for this movie. The story jumped around entirely too much. It didn't build up the relationships or people. What could have been an amazing biopic fell short. It scratched the surface and never went deep in the storyline.

Wow. What a truly inspiring film. Made me feel that being eccentric and different is ok as long as you are you! The film brought so many emotions - laughter, sadness, joy - very heart warming. At times I forgot I wasn't actually watching the guys from Queen - they all looked so like them - especially May and Mercury. I thought Rami rocked the role. Massive respect to this guy! Would happily pay to go back in and watch it again! My film of 2018!!!!

Biopic.

Charts the rise to fame of one of the greatest rock bands ever.

Touches on Freddie Mercury's (his stage name) background, then how he met the band and became their front man, the development of their unique sound, their meteoric rise to fame, and the key moments leading to Band Aid.

Briefly (probably too briefly) touches on Freddie's AIDS condition.

The film starts at the same moment as it ends with Freddie arriving on (Live Aid) stage, the last 15 minutes is their whole Live Aid performance.

Before the film my wife said to me ... "I'm not a fan, I didn't like their music, and I'm not looking forward to this" After the film my wife said to me ... "I really enjoyed that, think I'm a fan"

So ... this film is good, whether you think you're a fan or not.

Quite simply the critics are wrong! This is a fitting tribute to the best performer and band of all time.

One of the best movies of the year! The performances are all excellent. The music surpasses what I had imagined. Brings back the eighties superbly. The last 15 to 20 brought tears to many in the showing I was at. Don't miss it.

This film is a masterpiece and it pains me to think that people get paid obscene amounts of money to watch films for free and then slate them to appear clever. Bohemian Rhapsody will be a film that goes down in history and so it should; it is a phenomenal cinematic experience

You may enjoy watching this movie, until You realize that most of the facts and chronology is distorted and both band and Freddy strongly whitewashed. What's left is just another sentimental blockbuster.

Rami's performance is just outstanding though.

Barely adequate. Carried by Rami, the songs and sounds. 6/10

I'm fan of Queen& Freddie himself, but the same time I graduated film school and I love cinema, that's why I also like to be as objective as possible in my reviews of movies. Here I will try to make my criticism honest.

Yes, sometimes professional film critics are deliberately malicious, and their opinions are detached from reality, but sometimes they are also right, and in the case of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', they are right.

First of all, the film distorts a lot of facts from Freddie and Queen's life, and if it were not significant events - I would not care at all, because I understand copywrite and legal issues, but these are important things and all of this should be done better. Fred's life was dramatic enough, if only the creators of the film really wanted to make an interesting movie, they would go even deeper into Mercury's childhood and the fact he&his family, escaped their own homeland, because of brutal revolution. This could have been the starting point / foundation for a deeper, better portrait of the Queen singer.

Unfortunately, there is no depth here, the worst part is that this film is schematic, completely flat, only glides over important topics, does not carry out any serious psychological analysis of such a fascinating, complicated character that Freddie was.

I don't accept excuses of many Queen fanatics , that "this is the story of the band and not Mercury himself". Because first, one does not exclude the other: it was possible to include deeper analysis / truth about Freddie and the band, and second: the band's history is not shown in some great way either. The best moment of a rather boring, long-lasting first half of the movie is the recording of '' Bohemian Rhapsody ''. The rest is a fast, also quite chaotic montage of musical scenes depicting, carelessly, Queen tours and writing of individual hits, and while I understand, that in a 2-hour movie it is not possible to show each creative process in the smallest detail, it was still possible to show it better from the pov of the characters - band members, thus also build better and deeper characters in this film.

The second half is better, I admit, both in terms of pace and in terms of writing/story, and the icing on the cake is the Live Aid concert. The performance, photography, camera work, acting of the main actor is at the highest level in this scene, unfortunately it is not enough to save this movie from failure.

Malek's acting, imo, certainly doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination. He tries his best with an empty and schematic screenplay, writers / director's mistakes are not his fault, true, but Oscar is an award for outstanding acting performances, which are not limited to robotic mannerism, it must be accompanied by the psychological, emotional depth of the portrayed character, and there is no such depth in this film, in this main character. The only really emotional scene that attempts to penetrate into Mercury's soul is the scene of conversation in the rain. It is here, that Malek's creation is the truest and the best.

But again : when we look at this role through the prism of the whole film, majority of Malek's work is the mentioned mechanical mannerism - perfectly recreated- but it is not enough to rate this role positively, let alone reward it with an Oscar nomination. Imitative mannerism, gestures, faces alone - it is only a skeleton, an acting sketch and not a full, beautiful, complex image, which should be any biography. There is simply no soul in this act, and it's just a shame, if you play a figure as extraordinary, colorful and complicated as Freddie Mercury.

In addition to the obvious mistakes of screenwriters and director, Malek himself (for me), didn't rise to the task. Sometimes he is just Mercury caricature and large, artificial teeth don't help to erase this impression, in fact, the opposite. The make-up department didn't do good job here, famous teeth of Queen frontman could have been done better, much more subtly, it would look less ridiculous. Returning to Rami Malek - he is still a young talent who - like any actor - needs more workshop and acting experience, plus really good material, to really shine. That is why I predict Rami Malek will not win an Oscar.

I still think that the great mistake of the Bohemian Rhapsody creators, was to part ways with Sacha Baron Cohen. When I found out that he had left Mercury's biography project, I thought it was a big mistake from film producers, because I was sure Cohen wanted to tell an uncompromising, interesting story, not forcedly smoothed and it seems, my intuition did not disappoint me at the time. Cohen, a remarkable & colorful character himself, would have fit in perfectly in this role. In addition, after watching the interview, in which Cohen explained why he finally left the movie and what vision of Mercury he had - I regret even more that it was not him, who played the Queen main singer. He wanted to portray Freddie as a complicated, controversial figure with a great appetite for life, but also a great artist, who mixed his big ego with great sensitivity and shyness - I have no doubt that it would be a great role. Now it's just a missed opportunity.

As a result, we got schematic, "polite" movie, oh, what an irony - because Freddie Mercury, as well as the entire Queen, were as original, unapologetic and creative as you could be and they deserve much better. Sorry, but real Queen fan, who wanted raw, real, complex, deep, uncompromising truth and story - just cannot like this movie. Mercury and all the Queen story has so much potential (wasted in this movie). I guess I'll just wait for another film, bold and great this time, I hope.

I don't think I've ever been so excited to see a movie, EVER! As I'm sure many of you my age will say, I was brought up listening to Queen by my dad who was a huge fan. One of the only times I ever remember my dad crying was when Freddie died. That love for Queen has been passed on to my little boy, so off we went (a little disheartened, I might add, following the critic reviews) to watch the movie. Ten minutes in, my little boy turned to me and said , 'mum, I love this already' The film has you right from the get go! I honestly don't know what movie those critics saw, but it can't have been the same movie. At times I forgot I wasn't watching the real Queen. I laughed. I cried. I got goosebumps. I cried some more. I absolutely loved every minute of it. The cinema was packed out and as the credits drew, the audience clapped and cheered; something I have never experienced at a movie before. Do not be put off. Just go! If you have kids, take them too!

Forget the critics. If they want a full biography movie go to discovery channel.

This is the his majesty Queen's movie. Made by and for the fans and non fans

I never watched movie 2 times in cinema - this is the only one i did. I watched on CGV cinema, had my tears, and decided to try the IMAX experience, and it is worthed it.

Rami Malik was excellent, all the casts were! You always thought "We are the Champion" was a cheesy song made for the competition or olympic winners. After watching this movie, boy my view will never be the same of this song. This song deserve a country to use it as national anthemn.

10/10

I reiterate - Forget the critics. Go to IMAX and enjoy this movie

Have a lot of appreciation for Queen. Not a favourite band of mine by all means, but it is difficult to not understand their importance and appeal. They had some iconic songs (namely "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Don't Stop Me Now") and Freddie Mercury's immediately recognisable vocals and Brian May's virtuosic guitar playing were always out of this world.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' fascinated me when hearing about it and became most of my most anticipated films for the year. When hearing some negativity for the film, my expectations lowered a little, but saw it anyway because it did look and sound good. It did turn out to be a good decision, it is good to see that others here loved it and don't agree with the mixed critical reception respectfully.

Sure there are clichés (such as what some of the rest of Queen say) , but very few films are not and many are much worse in this regard. Like a lot of biopics, there are inaccuracies that may drive die-hard Queen fans into a frenzy, and the odd factual distortion, but again 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is not the first or worst film to do this and am going to judge it as a film on its own and not on a documentary level.

As a film on its own terms, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has an awful lot to admire. Getting the issues out of the way, the ones that could have been handled much better was the with the revelation of Freddie Mercury's AIDs diagnosis to the rest of the band, could have been done with more tact and less crass (like saying what it was a consequence of) and revealed too early and at the wrong time, and the implications with the phone ringing off post-taking centre stage that the event was a flop when it actually was a triumph.

Some of the early parts were a touch rushed as well, Mercury's ascent to stardom could have been less breakneck.

However, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is stylishly film and evokes the period beautifully. As to be expected, the songs are incredible and will be embedded in your brain for a long time, then again it is Queen of course. They are affectionately staged and performed in a way that made me remember what made me appreciate Queen in the first place.

Didn't find the script that simplistic or cliff-notes like, while there is a nice mix of moment of laughter, tension and tears and enough parts that entertained and informed, if not as in depth as it should. The story is never dull and the Live Aid depiction is both rousing and poignant. It's capably directed and while all the performances are fine if underused, it is Rami Malek's outstanding turn as Mercury that will live long in the memory, true to what made Mercury so interesting a person and performer without being an impersonation.

Concluding, impressively done and better than anticipated. 8/10 Bethany Cox