Almost a great biopic

Rating: 8/10 (11 December 2018)

Let me say straight off that I was never a fan of Queen or of Freddie Mercury, (too anthemic for my tastes), and I have always thought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' the most overrated song of all time, (though apparently the music press didn't think too highly of it when it came out and it was left to the public to make it a hit), so I approached Bryan Singer's Mercury/Queen biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a certain amount of trepidation. You might say I went to scoff and stayed to cheer.
As biopics go, it's reasonably conventional. We begin with Freddie about to go on stage at Live Aid then we flash back to the beginnings, circa 1970. It makes his talent clear from the start and it ticks all the right boxes as it chronicles Queen's rise and as a dip into the business known as showbusiness it's almost perfect. It's at its best when it dissects the songs, and in particular the title song, to show their genesis and, speaking as someone who never really liked them in the first place, all of this came as something of a revelation. I am now hearing Queen's songs in an entirely new light.
Of course, Mercury is the central figure throughout and is virtually never off the screen. At first Rami Malek looks strangely bizarre, more like a young Mick Jagger, and those extra teeth don't help but as the film progresses he grows into the part. His foibles are basically overlooked while his minder and his manager become the villains of the piece. Freddie is positively Christ-like when set beside Allen Leech's Paul Prenter. Leech, best known from "Downton Abbey", is superb here, a truly hissable villain if ever there was one while other members of the band are convincingly played by Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy and Joseph Mazzello. As the real love of Freddie's (early) life Lucy Boynton is excellent in an underwritten role.
The film ends as it began with Queen's appearance at Live Aid and director Singer gives us the entire set, a rock-and-roll tour-de-force lasting a good twenty minutes or so. When it was over there wasn't a dry eye in the house, (mine included), while the elderly couple beside me stood and lead the cheers.