Utterly baffling that this is on the award circuit

Rating: 3/10 (18 January 2019)

This film is a slog throughout most of its run time and the film feels like it was edited in a blender. As a story it just doesn't hang together very well and the film is not even sure what type of story it is trying to tell. Is it a rags to riches story that leads to self-destructive behavior? Is it the story of a band forming and having a falling out? Is it a the story of a bisexual man pulled in opposite directions by his heart and society? Is the story an artist kicking against convention especially his family's disapproval? The film tries to tell all those sorts of stories and it short changes all of them by doing so. Perhaps the film is trying to be like the song Bohemian Rhapsody in the mixing and matching of genres and plots. But it becomes a muddled mess that is real bore to sit through.
Worst the film is very much in love with Freddie Mercury the performer; the man not so much. The treatment of his bisexuality is shameful. The Paul-Freddie relationship and the subsequent AIDS material has all the hallmarks of a gay/AIDS panic film of the 80's. Add in that Paul is cast as usurper and seducer (as well as the extremely underdeveloped relationship with Jim) and the film treats bisexuality as a medical condition and moral failing. Freddie Mercury did not have queerness forced upon him. It is shameful the film does this.
It is also shameful that the film add ad hoc meaning to a lot of the songs. "Another One Bites the Dust" is not a song about men dying from AIDS. The film really forces the greatest hits into contexts they don't belong. The recreation of the songs is pretty good, and of course given they are using remastered tracks they sound great. But their narrative meaning is rendered weirdly. It just doesn't feel right.
Likewise, Rami Malek, while he give a pretty good performance, isn't quite right. He is ever so slightly not Mercury in his being and much of the film feels like a skillful impression as a result. Add in the use of the actual Mercury vocals and the very poor writing and the central character falls into something like the uncanny valley. I don't believe that voice is coming out of the guy in the movie because it isn't.
Nonetheless, the musical sequences are polished and they are dazzling recreations of the shows. When the band is playing the film is quite good. I can only speculate that this feature is why the film has been embraced by so many. It doesn't hurt that the best sequence-Live Aid-occurs last and leaves a warm impression leaving the theater. But looking back you realize how much crap you had to sit through to get there.