Shallow portrayal of an epic rock band

Rating: 4/10 (7 November 2018)

"What about the other band members?" was a question I must have asked myself fifteen times throughout the film. The narrative follows Freddie Mercury, who is an irresistible badass, but completely flattened all the characters around him, including (but not limited to) all three band members, Mary, and all of the record label guys. Side note: RIP Mike Myers' career. He has fallen so far, playing a (fictional) douchey record exec with a questionable accent who passes on Bohemian Rhapsody because it's too "out there". That abysmal performance is emblematic of the entire film, which disappoints in almost every way.
Rami Malek portrays an emaciated, pitiable Mercury with a checkered past and some alluded-to sexual exploits. His primary qualm in life is that he's lonely and doesn't feel loved. Idk if this is actually true... The whole emotional scope of the film seems faked, and it upsets me that it's so hard to tell when this biopic is making facts up. What a waste of opportunity.
Not having grown up in the eighties, but still quite a big Queen fan, I did NOT get a sense of the impact of Queen's meteoric rise to fame, their overall influence on rock music, nor Freddie Mercury's absolute genius. Instead, the lead singer came off as a flamboyant diva who whipped out hits at convenient times; and the rest of the band mates were so 1-D that, literally, any fights between the friends were solved by... Wait for it... The power of rock n roll. Wtf?
The picture was, in reality, so much more complicated, with drug addiction, philandering and gobs of money influencing these musicians. Instead, people acted like a bunch of children reading an inflated do-gooder script. Why, Hollywood, WHY must you make a mockery of life as we know it? It seemed to try to avoid the trope of most musician biopics that play up the common problems for artists on the road, but in excluding those conflicts, the film became superficial and boring. It tried too hard, sadly.
Tbh this movie could have used more explicit drug use, gay sex, and WAY MORE LIVE QUEEN!! But I do have to give four stars for the delightful anesthetic, the wardrobe, andddd the ample use of Freddie Mercury's actual voice instead of Rami Malek's. But still, you're better of watching Highlander for a fuller Queen soundtrack.
I'll be checking out a proper documentary on queen next!