The spirit of Queen's music flows this film

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2019)

Bohemian Rhapsody
Directed by Bryan Singer/Dexter Fletcher and written by Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan

I have to play some catch up before I have some articles for 25 Years Later. I did not see as many of the best picture nominees as I would have liked to. I did see Black Panther, Vice and Green Book. Now we are adding Bohemian Rhapsody to that list. Now Green Book won the Best Picture Oscar and in my opinion, that was very undeserved. It is the lowest of the four pictures I've seen. Bohemian Rhapsody was the best of the four.
Let me explain what I mean. The movie at first came out like a Wikipedia article come to life. This is an issue that has plagued biopics for ages. But the movie then slows down and we start to understand Freddy Mercury more. We also get some pieces from the other band members. Not a lot of musical biopics about a band address the other band members much but this one does. It also acknowledges how interconnected they all truly were in the creation of the music. The music is very integral to everything. I know I'm stating an obvious point of a movie about Queen. I found this to be a pleasant surprise.
Rami Malek also won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Freddy Mercury. It took some getting used to at first. He seems to be having difficulty with his teeth and speaking but it starts to flow more naturally and eventually he disappears. His performance is one of strength and hurt. A lot is said by his body language. He puts his all into those performances and he becomes Freddy Mercury on that stage and for that I agree with the Academy's choice here.
This movie got me a few times but mainly through the awe of the character work in bits and the music has a special place as well. The runtime flies by and the recreation of the LiveAid concert is spectacular to watch. It alone makes the movie. I give this one a B. Check it out.