needs some darker scenes

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2019)

It's a biopic of the popular band Queen and its lead singer Freddie Mercury. It starts in 1970 London. Freddie Bulsara (Rami Malek) is a baggage handler at Heathrow. He joins Roger Taylor and Brian May after they lose their lead singer. They add bassist John Deacon. Freddie changes his name to Freddie Mercury and marries girlfriend Mary Austin. The band signs with manager John Reid and becomes a world wide success. Freddie has an affair with Paul Prenter and comes out to Mary. It's a troubled life journey culminating to the celebrated Live Aid concert in 1985.
The most important aspect of this biopic is Rami Malek's performance. For the most part, it is very good. If I choose to be snarky, I would say the teeth did half the job. While I think he has the essence of the role, his musical performances fall short in terms of power. In the end, all I know about Freddie Mercury is through his music videos and Malek needs to turn the dial to 11. Malek does fill up the role with humanity. One gets the sense of his confidence which seems to be a mask for his insecurities and his sexuality. He is a man of many dimensions and Malek is able to match his charisma. It's a very good performance.
If there are flaws, the movie is pulling some of its punches back. I'm not pushing for a gay orgy scene but his homosexuality is held back for presumably the audience. If not that, then there could be more done with his drug use. I rarely call for montages but this case calls for it. It could go dark with a montage of his drug use. By going darker, his climb back to the light would be more exhilarating. As for exhilarations, I expected more from the Live Aid performance. I remember watching some of the concert back in the day but not for long stretches. The movie tries to make it something epic especially with the donations. I can't speak to that but it goes a little too far. It pushes too hard. I would eliminate the phone bank scenes. Overall, this movie is compelling. The band and its music is epic. The performances are good. It's a pretty good musical biopic.