Malek was miscast

Rating: 5/10 (31 October 2018)

Source: Many inrterviews with Mercury. Eg. interview with Freddie Mercury and Dave Clark, or Freddie and Molly Meldrum (and about 50 other interviews). Freddie's enigmatic personality and energy come through in his interviews. Malek is a wet sock by comparison, lacking that energy and vibrancy and cheekiness. Malek wasn't even in the ballpark, he was more of a "Freddie-bot".
What made Freddie so special was that he related to almost everybody (and EVERYONE knew he was gay and was fine with it - it was the 70s after all). Freddie was very careful to relate to everybody, to give his best. Sadly, this film reflects the modern divisiveness (Malek identifying himself by his nationality and his sexuality). Freddie rose above that, something Malek (and modern society) struggles to do. It's like watching the 70s liberation and free spirit through the "modern" politically correct filter. The only way to explain this is via George Orwell's 1984 - what ever the truth is, you say the opposite. That's Malek's performance and today's politically correct culture - Orwell's 1984.
The representation of Brian May and Roger Taylor was FAR more accurate and very well done. Watch the interview with Queen immediately prior to live aid. The only personality that differs from this movie was Malek.
It's a shame Baron-Cohen didn't play Freddie. Baron-Cohen has that charm and subtlety that Malek just doesn't understand. The police officer in Hugo or the time keeper in Alice Through the Looking Glass show that vibrancy and cheekiness that Malek lacks.
The music in this movie is very good. The story was highly contrived. The whole Queen "split" doesn't reflect the interviews by the band prior to liveaid, or any of the significant readings available on Queen (many of them i've read).
If you want a fun movie that loosely gets the facts right with fairly accurate casting (except Malek - who looks the part but gets the personality VERY wrong), then it's an enjoyable movie. However, if you were around in the 70s and remember how easy going and open minded the 70s were (compared to today), you'll sense something is wrong in this movie.