A great watch but could have gone a bit deeper! 7/10

Rating: 7/10 (14 March 2019)

Review:
This is one of those movies that is over 2 hours long, but you don't want it to finish. It doesn't delve too deep into Freddie Mercury's life, but you certainly get an insight into the period before he sadly died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS, on the 24th of November 1991, at the young age of 45. The performances were great throughout the film, especially from Rami Malek who deserved the Oscar for his role, but you don't get to find out that much about the rest of the band, who also played a big part in making Queen such a unique, and successful band. I would have like to have seen more about the last 6 years of Freddie Mercury's life, after the Live Aid concert, but at least the movie ends on a high note, even though you know that he's dying of AIDS. Anyway, the movie starts with Farrokh "Freddie" Bulsara (Rami Malek), an Indian Parsi refugee from Zanzibar, working as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport in 1970. After seeing the band Smile perform at a pub, Freddie encounters Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) and meets the drummer, Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), and guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee). After learning that the lead singer for there band has quit, Freddie offers to join and he demonstrates his vocal ability. With Freddie as the lead singer, and a new bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello), the band sells out gigs across Britain. After selling there van to book a studio to record their debut album, Freddie changes the band's name to Queen and legally changes his own name to Freddie Mercury. The band signs with John Reid (Aiden Gillen), Elton John's manager, and receives a contract with EMI. After touring to promote the album, Mary and Freddie become engaged. The album hits the American charts, and the band embarks on a sold-out U.S. tour, where Freddie questions his sexuality. In 1975, Queen recorded their 4th album but leaves EMI when executive Ray Foster (Mike Myers), refuses to release the operatic and lengthy Bohemian Rhapsody as the album's lead single. Confronted by Mary, Freddie comes out to her about being bisexual, although she assures him he is gay. They end their engagement and she moves next door when he purchases an extravagant house in 1980. On Queen's world tour, Freddie begins an affair with Paul Prenter, the band's day-to-day manager. Tensions arise in the band as Freddie sinks into debauchery with the manipulative Paul. Following a successful show, Paul puts Reid up to proposing that Freddie pursue a solo career and disband Queen, prompting Freddie to fire Reid without consulting the band, furthering their strain. After their latest video is banned from MTV because the band appears in drag, Freddie announces his $4million solo deal with CBS Records, effectively breaking up the band. In 1984, Freddie moves to Munich to work on his first solo album, finding himself lost in drugs, alcohol, and gay orgies with Paul and becomes increasingly ill. Mary, now pregnant by her new partner and concerned about Freddie, urges him to return to the band, as they have been offered a spot in Bob Geldof's benefit concert, Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. Realising that Paul withheld this news, Freddie severs ties with him, and Paul retaliates by going public about Freddie's sexual escapades. Freddie returns to London and reconciles with his bandmates, and they agree to perform at Live Aid after getting a last-minute slot. With HIV/AIDS spreading worldwide, Freddie discovers that he has contracted the virus, and he reveals this to his supportive bandmates. After an amazing performance, helping to increase donations and making the event a massive success, the movie ends with real photos of Freddie Mercury, and you get to see one of his performances during the end credits. It is quite a remarkable story, which is entertaining throughout and I couldn't help tapping my feet during some of the songs. I was also impressed with the way that they were able to recreate the Live Aid concert, which had amazing attention to detail, and the fact that Rami Malek also performed the songs, shows how much work went into the film. The only problem is that I didn't learn anything new about the man himself, who led an extremely extravagant life, but with that aside, I still enjoyed it. Enjoyable!
Round-Up:
This movie was directed by Bryan Singer, who also brought you The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, Jack The Giant Slayer, X-Men: Days Of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse. Although it's down on paper that Bryan Singer directed this movie, he was only the director through principal photography, which began in London in September 2017, but was fired in December 2017, for absence, and clashing with the cast and crew. Dexter Fletcher, who was originally set to direct the film early in development, was hired to complete the film, although Singer retained sole director credit as per Directors Guild of America guidelines. Fletcher received an executive producer credit and filming concluded in January 2018. It's a good thing that it didn't win the Oscar for Best Picture because there would have been a bit of a discrepancy about who would have it on there mantle. Anyway, Sacha Baron Cohen was set to play Mercury in 2010 but he left the project in 2013, following creative differences with the producers. He must be gutted after seeing Malek winning the Oscar for a leading role! Anyway, this movie was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2018 worldwide, setting the all-time box office records for the biopic and drama genres, so it certainly made a big impact. Personally, I think that it could have gone a bit deeper, and the director should have taken some risks but apart from that, it's a decent watch.
Budget: $52million
Worldwide Gross: $876million
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Cast: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Aaron McCusker and Mike Myers. 7/10