Killer Queen or Killing Queen?

Rating: 6/10 (6 November 2018)

Every kid who has ever had trouble fitting in has someone that inspires them. Someone to show them what it is like to be fearless, strong and bearing all of your soul stark naked for the world the see. That man was Freddie Mercury for me. I was a Queen superfan in my youth, and that says a lot for a band that had lost it's lead singer long before my time. Their music spoke to me. Rocked me to my core. Made my heart sing. Bohemian Rhapsody remains one of my favorite songs of all time. Passion, joy, rage and sorrow in under 6 minutes, and to think it was ever considered a critical flop. A Freddie Mercury biopic was decade in the making, and foundered in development hell as the surviving band members fought tooth and claw against showing the darkest portions of Mercury's life. The band ultimately had the final say. What we get instead is the fluffiest tribute to one of the greatest bands of all time. Fluff is all we've got to work with here, and quite frankly, it's disappointing.
Bohemian Rhapsody spands Freddie and his career with Queen from the band's conception to the insane making of "A Night at the Opera", to the lull's of the 1980s, to the final scene which captures Freddie's greatest performance ever at Live Aid. That scene in particular is a masterful tribute that almost redeemed BH of all of it's numerous flaws. The entire performance is covered. Every movement, every facial expression, every audience reaction. Singer wants us to live this moment. We don't cut back and forth quickly around it. We stay with it. It needs to be experienced in a loud, large theatre without a doubt. But if we're going to compare the biography portion of the film, consider this familiar territory the entire way through. If you've seen Ray, Walk the Line, Get On Up, Jersey Boys, Love & Mercy, The Doors and Straight out of Compton, you've sadly seen Bohemian Rhapsody. However, where Love & Mercy and The Doors entire the mad darkness from which these great songs were inspired, we barely see that side of Mercury being explored. Neither do we see in depth his extricating struggle with his sexuality and his later crippling AIDS diagnosis. Both are hinted at, but none of the execution truly captured his pain. Again, this is disappointing.
See Bohemian Rhapsody for the music if nothing else. You'll love hearing the old songs in crystal clear, loud quality. But don't expect a masterpiece.