The story is a missed opportunity and lowers the overall value

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2018)

The main show here is Malek. This movie is his masterpiece. His energetic antics on stage, his accent, his prosthetic buck teeth and his tragic tension bring Freddie Mercury to life. He is the most interesting thing in this movie, as he should be. The second most interesting thing is everyone else's performance, especially Ben Hardy's, playing Roger Taylor.
The last thing that stands out is the historical polish. The 70's and 80's are faithfully recreated, along with all the Freddie's funky clothes. The flying camera shots of the giant crowd at the Live Aid concert are impressive. This is all somewhat expected, considering the film's high budget.
But that is where the interesting things end, unfortunately. All the other aspects of the film are good, but to me, nothing else stands out enough to justify the standing ovation that this movie seems to be receiving from the public.
The story, in particular, is one big missed opportunity. It would have been interesting to see Freddie's development as a singer in his younger days, perhaps his flight from his country of birth. There is none of that. Once Freddie meets the band, he is already the perfect singer. From then on, it's a steady rise upward and the film ends at the top of Queen's fame. There is drama towards the end, but that drama is touched upon lightly and treated like a nuisance in an otherwise awesome hall of awesomeness.
One of the more interesting historical moments with regard to Queen was the release of the fatalistic song The Show Must Go On right in the middle of the rumours about the singer's health. None of that either. That songs gets played during the credits.
The part of the story about the break-up of the band feels like it's been taken out of a cheesy kids' movie about a teenage band and the dialogue is appropriately cheesy.
In short, this film is about great performances and it is a nice audio-visual treat for those who are interested in the band. Malek's performance is well worth the price of admission. There is, however, little else of note.