Not even the music can drag you in.

Rating: 7/10 (29 October 2018)

There was a rather hideous piece of movie last year, The Greatest Showman, which, for all it's faults, dragged you in musically before the first scene was plated. Literally, we were stomping our feet to a beat and music we did not know.
With all the options available to us with Queen's music, the filmmakers missed the bus. I found my foot tapping on one occasion. It caused me to look around to see if anyone was moved beyond me. If they were, they disguised it well.
I am a huge Queen fan. This movie spends a lot of time showing how the band wanted to involve their audience, but in the finish, the movie audience did not step across that threshold.
The good? Mike Myers as a record exec with a punchline hat tip to Wayne's World. The actors... pretty much all of them were terrific. I think they overdid Freddie's teeth and video comparisons bear this out. The music. Even though I was not dragged in beyond a foot tap, I still love the music.
The bad?
Haywire timelines. Diagnosing AIDS a year or two early? A snippet of an onstage performance of Fat Bottomed Girls years early? Freddie reconnecting with the male the love of his life after the diagnosis.
A tour bus or two rolling down a highway and the names of cities emblazoned across the screen to show their world success. Come on!
Freddie watching a male trucker with come hither eyes who heads into a gas station men's room? Ugh!
I think people will be inclined to overrate this movie because of the music. Honestly, you'll get that music on itunes if you don't have it already.
The movie finishes with all the right feelgoods, (all conflicts resolved) and a good portion of Queen's Live Aid set reenacted. The problem was, in cinemaland, we were watching the Wembley Crowd involvement, but never drawn into the scene.
Maybe I expected too much, but I feel as though the Director under delivered. Seven out of ten for the actors and the music.