Anticipation Level: 6/10
Director: Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, X2, Superman Returns)
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Mike Myers
I’m no Queen or Freddy Mercury superfan and while I recognize and enjoy the band’s most famous songs, I’m not really familiar with their discography either. With that said, I can’t speak on Bohemian Rhapsody‘s historical accuracy. I’ve read that some of the timelines presented are erroneous, but none of that affected my viewing of the film at all.
I thought Bohemian Rhapsody was enjoyable and it had some very good high points, but it felt longer than its 2 hour and 15 minute running time. It functioned much better when the band was on screen together creating their most famous content than when the film focused more on Freddy Mercury’s private life. Rami Malek was Oscar worthy as Mercury though. He gives one of the year’s best performances I’ve seen so far. The film closes with a rather spectacular recreation of Queen’s Live Aid performance in 1985. It’s a strong 15 minute set that is said to be an exact replication of that actual performance and that’s pretty damn cool.
Bohemian Rhapsody was fun movie that highlights Queen’s most iconic songs and gets a great performance from Rami Malek. There were a couple moments I found moving, but overall I wasn’t too invested in the story. It’s worth watching and is obviously a must see for fans of the band.
Replay Value: I could watch it again but I probably won’t.
Sequel Potential: N/A
Oscar Potential: Rami Malek is a strong contender for Best Actor. I can’t imagine him not making the cut at this point. I think I prefer Bradley Cooper’s performance in A Star is Born. I’d be pretty surprised to see this movie garner much other Oscar attention, but it could possibly contend in sound categories and maybe Costume Design.
Dina Meter: If I find a movie struggles with pacing a little bit, I generally think Dina probably won’t like it too much. I think she’d think was okay.
6/10 (Fun)
The Bat Cave 