Not quite 'Bohemian Rhapsody', more like 'I'm In Love With My Car': undeniably entertaining but ultimately quite shallow.

Rating: 6/10 (30 October 2018)

'Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)' does feel like it's trying to do a deep-dive on Mercury himself, showing the highs, lows and everything in-between in an attempt to humanise him, to show the man behind the musical myth. It never quite manages to do so, however, despite a blistering lead performance. It always seems to just scrape the surface of the man's psyche, only occasionally dipping a little deeper into his inner workings but still never really coming close to painting a clear picture of his out-of-spotlight self. Instead of focusing fully on this, the piece just glosses past important moments and relationships in order to get back to the 'fun' stuff, ultimately coming across as pretty shallow (especially when you stop to think about it). Thankfully, though, that 'fun stuff' consists of a series of admittedly check-list and narratively flimsy, yet undeniably entertaining, scenes in which we're treated to the origin of several key Queen tracks and then given a performance of each of them, or even a full twenty-minute live-aid concert, all presented in ear-pleasing surround-sound. The only downside to these sequences is that the actors are lip-syncing the songs, despite having performed them properly on the day. While this allows us to hear Queen in all their glory, it does take away from the believability of the picture in some key moments and gives off an ever-so-slightly disingenuous feel; the characters in the film aren't the same as their real-life counterparts, no matter how well they represent them, and they aren't really singing. Still, as I mentioned, hearing these songs blasted from a cinema-quality sound-system is a treat; it really is difficult not to smile when they're being played. It's not like the film is ever unenjoyable, either, even in its most 'check-list' or hollow of moments. It also doesn't scream "troubled production", despite being the very definition of the term behind-the-scenes. The most you can tell it's a tale of two (or three) minds is in the sometimes strange post-production choices, which are clearly Fletcher's doing. Overall, while the movie isn't always deep, it definitely could've been deeper, and it strangely misses out a significant chunk of its star's life, it's ultimately an entertaining time that will certainly please fans of the band. 6/10