There's something the haters haven't considered...

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2019)

For those of you who were Queen fans and didn't like Bo Rhap because of the factual inaccuracies, you have to realize that this movie wasn't made just for you. This movie was made to bring the story of Freddie, but mostly Queen's outstanding music, to every single generation in the world, simultaneously. For some, it brought on nostalgia, while for others it was completely new territory or even brought on a new appreciation for the band. Other than We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions playing at sports games, the younger generations have likely never heard of Queen/their music, so they wouldn't even be aware of any factual inaccuracies, and I doubt they would care much if they found out. (This is the case for me. I'd heard and loved about 6 Queen songs throughout my childhood but didn't know anything about the band, let alone that all those songs came from the same band. I was born a month before Freddie died in 1991, and for my entire life I'd never even heard of his name...until I saw this movie.)
Yes, some of Bo Rhap's content could've been handled differently, especially regarding Freddie's sexuality, but 1) this isn't a documentary, it is a Hollywood movie that was intended to be appropriate & enjoyable for all audiences and 2) at the end of the day, the thing that will always keep legendary bands like Queen alive is the timeless, universal MUSIC. Music has a beautiful way of uniting people and bridging the gap between people from all walks of life, and this movie managed to do that perfectly. When Queen is banging out We Will Rock You at Madison Square Garden or We Are the Champions at Live Aid and you have chills and you feel like you're in the audience, it reinforces the feeling that we can all feel a part of something bigger than ourselves, and reminds you exactly why those men were geniuses.
I understand why this movie was made to focus on Freddie more as a musician rather than a promiscuous guy who liked partying and cocaine. What good would that stuff have really done other than glorify that kind of lifestyle? Take Rocketman as a good comparison... that movie is saturated with an overzealous amount of both glam and pain/addiction, and it ultimately fails to figure out its tone. The darker side of it just feels so incredibly overdone and I came out of it knowing nothing more about Elton John other than him having a tough childhood and becoming an addict, which we've already come to the conclusion is a very "tired biopic cliche", as many have said. It didn't move me or turn me into a fan of him. Bo Rhap gave us enough information about Freddie's struggles in order to sympathize with him, but it wasn't aggressively thrown in our faces in a way that distracted us from the fact that the reason we even know about all these famous people is because of their music. That is the thing that made us fans and will keep us fans. Also, let's not forget that Freddie was an extremely private person, and his bandmates even said that after 20 years with him, he was still such a mystery to them. Therefore, diving deep into his sleazy lifestyle without much background info on why he did the things he did (i.e wounds from childhood) would've been useless and gratuitous.
As for Rami, he was incredible as Freddie and 100% deserving of his Oscar! Man..he REALLY did his homework! I really can't understand why the Rocketman lovers who enjoyed Taron Egerton's "version of Elton John" feel compelled to tear Rami down for what they say was "Rami impersonating Freddie". Freddie was a very unique man with a very unique look, speaking style, mannerisms, and idiosyncrasies, especially regarding his teeth and lips, and one simply cannot play Freddie in a half-assed way. It just wouldn't have worked, especially because Rami already had a strike against him by not looking very similar to Freddie (until the mustache and short hair in the second half of the movie). Taron was able to pull off doing a version of Elton because of the fact that he already kind of looks like Elton, he had a good enough voice to sing, and because Rocketman is a musical fantasy with a very different approach to storytelling than Bo Rhap.
It's about time that people calm down with the hate toward this movie. It's getting really old at this point. Rocketman is in no way perfect but people are letting the fact that its very gay (and proud of it) distract them from seeing its very obvious flaws.
My final words here are that Bohemian Rhapsody was a absolute delight to watch! Besides the top notch acting and music, the costumes, production design, and editing were all so great! While watching it I felt like I was living in the 70s and 80s for those 2 hours and got to experience the excitement and joy that all the fans would've felt back in the day when they first heard the records or attended the concerts. I am now a very big fan of Queen and Rami Malek, and for that, I thank the filmmakers!