Malek is great, the bio pic recipe is quite formulaic

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2019)

Hollywood does biographies like they do their films: they take reality and cut and rearrange and fake it until it makes money. A lot of moments were more dramatic than what really happened or even fictitious, but it all looks good. You get the feel for Freddie's forced confidence, always looking forward, living the day, but at the same time remaining a scared little kid that needs friends and is vulnerable to bad influence. Also the band didn't split on his account alone, they all went and did their own thing once in a while, but always came back. It wouldn't look good on film, though. So while I enjoyed the film, it felt like so many other movies I've seen. The AIDS stuff is also very mixed around.
But Rami Malek was great. At the beginning I was having doubts, I don't think he had gotten used to the false teeth and he looked kind of uncomfortable, but really fast he got into the role so well that him and Freddie mixed up in my mind. I thought it would be off putting because he looked so much like that kid in the Invisible Man video (they didn't get the hair quite right), but he was really good.
So bottom line: great music, great performances, the story a bit bland and formulaic. A solid 8/10.