A lot of praise is being heaped on Rami Malek’s performance as the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury, but it isn’t enough to save Bohemian Rhapsody. Biopics are often cursory composites which, by the demand of a manageable run-time, compress an enormous amount of material into a limited amount of space. Bohemian Rhapsody, however, pushes this unfortunate genre side effect even further. I’m not overly concerned with dates getting mixed up for dramatic purposes or multiple characters being compiled into one to save time, I’m talking about the oversimplification of a truly iconic and trailblazing figure. Mercury’s illness and death were an important part of his life and an important chapter in the story of the AIDS crisis – and it’s treated as an afterthought. Queen was an important band, and their story is one worth telling, but the other story – the real one about Freddie Mercury – is sadly glossed over and boiled down to a few scant situations.
Bohemian Rhapsody moves quickly through the years. It uses each of Queen’s many hits to mark the passage of time, but in doing so becomes less of a page-turner and more of a “Greatest Hits” album. It cycles from track to track in chronological order without much consideration for story or character development. There are some fun moments during the recording phase of the song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” but it’s quickly undone by an overlong scene involving Mike Myers, a very bad fake beard, and a meta-joke about Wayne’s World (1992) that’s also an Almost Famous (2000) rip-off. Once that’s out of the way, on to the next hit song – and so on and so on. Mercury’s and the rest of Queen’s immense talent isn’t showcased properly and isn’t as revered as it should be. It’s an exercise in tedium rather than the celebration of a phenomenon.
All this is exacerbated by poor editing choices and mismatched presentation. Bohemian Rhapsody has very little balance or consistency, which makes it seem as if – from scene to scene – we may be watching a different movie. This is likely due, in part, to its director Brian Singer’s firing before the film’s completion (with it wrapping under the direction of Dexter Fletcher), but that doesn’t jive all the way with me. It’s too consistently unstable to blame the whole thing on the change in directors. A major motion picture like Bohemian Rhapsody doesn’t come off as amateurish as this without fundamental problems from the outset. This lack of coherency creates a near complete lack of interest, which in turn causes a loss of engagement with the film.
Malek is good, though, and so is the rest of the cast (except Mike Myers – that shit is cringe-worthy). For his portrayal of Mercury, Malek has already amassed a handful of awards and is a favorite for some more. Whether he deserves them or not is up to you, but there are several scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody where he is quite transformative (the final Live Aid performance comes to mind). He’s fun to watch, and the effort he put into the role is obvious from the get-go. But, one great performance can’t save a movie with the kind of fundamental problems seen in Bohemian Rhapsody. A good film must start with good filmmaking.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.