A Good Performance but that is all

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2019)

Malek does an amazing job, not just of acting like he did on stage, but performing with the sort of power and rhythm that Freddy did and bringing that same yet subtly different energy into the non band performance based scenes.
In fact, his performance as Freddy Mercury is the only real reason to see this film. It's entertaining, funny, sad, moving and everything else we all expect from a musician biopic. Guess what? He did drugs, was a homosexual, had issues with his dad, and resented his band. If you didn't already know the story just from knowing about his life you could still predict most of the story beats of this film if you've seen "Walk the Line," "A Star is Born," or any other of the myriad of musician rise to fame movies out there.
That isn't to say it's not worth watching. It totally is. The acting is just that good. Not just by Rami Malek either. Gwilym Lee ("The Tourist"), Ben Hardy, and Joe Mazzello ("Jurassic Park") all do a wonderful job of mimicking Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. In fact, while the movie spends the vast majority of its time with Freddy Mercury and in awe of him, it definitely doesn't forget the rest of the band. In fact, it does so in a more profound way than most movies about bands.
You really end up getting a sense of camaraderie and family from the band. Of course, I don't know how much of that is accurate but it makes for a good movie and that's what I'm judging here. This movie is as much about four guys realizing they love and need each other as it is about the rise of a Rock n' Roll hero.
On a side note, While Rami Malek did sing for his performances in the movie, the actual recording you hear is mostly by Marc Martel, the lead singer for Christian Band "Down Here" and they sound phenomenal. I would have loved the way it sounded even before finding to that one of my favorite bands from back in the day supplied the vocals. After finding that out, I love them even more.
For the hardcore Queen fan, I imagine much of this movie will seem like old news but as Freddy is no longer with us, this is probably as close as one could get to seeing him perform and for that reason, I think it is totally worth seeing.