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BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
Director: Bryan Singer Cast: Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Gwilym Lee, Lucy Boynton, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Aaron McCusker, Aidan Gillen, Mike Myers MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:14 Release Date: 10/31/18 (IMAX); 11/2/18 (wide) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 31, 2018 Think of any two hit songs by Queen, and chances are that those two songs are quite different. There was nothing formulaic about the music of Queen, which is a fact that's stated quite bluntly in one of the many formulaic scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody. It's the scene in which the musicians get into a debate with a record executive about what the music-listening public really wants. The band argues for artistry, and the executive argues for playing it safe. One wonders if such an argument happened before the making of this biographical movie. If it did occur, the side for artistry definitely lost. Thus, the story of one of the more innovative and unpredictable bands in rock history simply becomes a straightforward timeline of recording sessions, montages of live performances, some behind-the-scenes bickering, and a triumphant climactic performance. Meanwhile, the movie's telling of the life story of the band's most charismatic, virtuoso, and subtly revolutionary front man seems to possess little more than a passing interest in his actual life. Freddie Mercury, the man whose one-of-a-kind voice helped propel the band to fame, was much more than a singer. Almost everyone knows that he was gay, although this movie treats that fact as both a surprise and the end of any insight into him as a character. Even then, it's clear that Andrew McCarten's screenplay doesn't know how to handle that knowledge within this story. It strangely seems frightened of the information, as if the movie's version of Mercury would somehow be tainted if the story acknowledged his sexuality with any kind of forthrightness. The Freddie of the movie, played by Rami Malek (with a set of false teeth that are always distracting), doesn't seem to acknowledge the truth himself. His coming out is left to another character (After he tries to split the difference by announcing that he's bisexual, someone else basically screams, "You're gay!"). Almost all of his romantic relationships—save for one with a woman and one with the partner he was with in the last part of his life—don't appear to be of his choosing (He's always kissed here, never starting anything). The very concept of sex is a foreign one to this movie, which is especially odd, considering the circumstances of the end of Mercury's life. The resulting movie, then, gives us a biography of a band that fills in the gaps between songs with overly familiar scenes, as well as a biography of the famous singer that turns him into an egotistical but confused man, who spends most of the movie with a hoity-toity but superior attitude about everyone and everything. Considering all of the potential angles from which a movie could view Mercury, it's frustrating that this movie only chooses one, and it's doubly frustrating that the filmmakers have chosen one that's so generic. Despite all of the scenes with the band, this is Freddie's story. He begins as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport, living with his parents (played by Ace Bhatti and Meneka Das), Parsi immigrants with a fairly conservative outlook. He frequents clubs at night, and fortune gives him the opportunity to join a band that has just lost its lead singer. Freddie forms Queen with guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), while John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) joins shortly after on the bass. Everything after this is a rush of history and songs, like a narrative version of an encyclopedia entry. The band appears on television to lip-sync one of their hits. They record an album at a remote farm. They have the argument with the record executive (played by Mike Myers, in casting that revolves around a meta-joke about the song of the movie's title), and then there are the tours (with more songs) and the band coming upon hard times, because Freddie is manipulated by the band's and, then, his manager Paul Prenter (Allen Leech). As for Freddie's life, it's also underdeveloped. He falls for Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) but finds himself looking at men with restrained longing. He becomes a bit of a recluse, and his hunger for fame puts him at odds with his bandmates. Suddenly, Freddie is coughing up blood and starts thinking about his legacy. The movie's climax is a re-creation of the band's legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985. It's an admirable copy, although mostly useless, since, after all, we have the real thing. The whole of Bohemian Rhapsody, though, feels much like a copy. The actors look and vaguely act like their real-life counterparts, while the screenplay copies both the broad history of its subjects and the formula of biographical narratives. Save for the music, there's nothing authentic about it. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for thematic elements, suggestive material, drug content and language)
