Movie Review: Bohemian Rhapsody
By: Larry Barnett
Forty-three years ago, the soon-to-be legendary rock band Queen had the idea to combine the drama of opera and the hard rock sounds of the time into one song, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The song, by rights, should have been doomed from the beginning due to its ridiculous sound and length of six minutes, but somehow the song became known as one of the best rock songs to ever be made, influencing many other bands with the style of making longer, dramatic songs.
Now, 43 years later, it is the name of the new Queen biopic which stars Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, Gwilym Lee as Queen’s lead Guitarist Bryan May, Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor and Joesph Mazzello as the band’s bassist John Deacon.
The movie uses true events to show how the legendary British rock band climbed their way from traveling in a run-down Aston Martin mini van to being hailed as one of the most successful rock bands of all time.
The movie is told from the perspective of lead singer Freddie Mercury and shows the highs and lows of the band — from its origins outside of a club in Britain to the iconic Live Aid performance in 1985 at Wembley Stadium in London, in front of a huge crowd. Along with simultaneous events around the world and the shows being broadcast far and wide, the global crowd was estimated to be in the billions.
Queen’s performance, which the movie cast re-enacted note for note, beat for beat, was said to be one of the best live performances of all time and helped draw massive donations to the famine in Africa.
The movie also shows the rough relationships the members of the band between albums and featured the moment Queen broke up, leading Freddie Mercury to go solo to produce his 1985 album “Mr. Bad Guy.”
It also shows the dark side of Freddie Mercury’s life as he battled his drug addiction and his brief battle with AIDS.
The similarities between the cast members and the actual band members is so identical that Freddie Mercury’s sister is quoted as saying “That’s my Freddie” when she saw Malek in costume.
The movie has something for everyone: the drama of the music industry in the 1970s, the homegrown love of a group of friends climbing to the top of the music scene, the sadness of watching one the music industry’s biggest names fall from grace and then climb back up to the top, all with a legendary performances that will give you goosebumps.
I urge anyone who likes the music of that generation and especially anyone who loves Queen to go see this movie — it will give you an entirely different perspective on the rock band that helped shape the music industry during the 1970s and 1980s.
