Bohemian Rhapsody - Review Thread

Credit where credit is due, Bohemian Rhapsody is not quite the trainwreck I was expecting. The vitriol against this movie is severe (and not without good reason) and that one clip circling around Twitter had me fearing the worst. Well, the movie is definitely bad, but I did find some things to like about it. Most obviously, Rami Malek gives a pretty strong performance. He's hampered a lot by the writing of the film and character, but all the same he does a good job embodying Freddie Mercury and makes for a really watchable personality. There's also enough flash here that, when combined with the music, is often at least a little bit fun and the climactic Live-Aid concert is also pretty well done.

On the other hand, the film is largely a mess, one which hits the expected musician biopic cliches yet blasts through Freddie's life with such speed that the bulk of the movie feels completely structure-less. There's also a nasty homophobic streak to the way the narrative frames Freddie as being an innocent whose life was largely corrupted by his gay friends while his straight band mates could only look on in dismay. Visually, too, the film tends to frame scenes of homosexuality in the most suspicious and fearful way possible. Roger Corman once said the scariest shot in cinema is a camera slowly approaching a closed door. Guess how the film first chooses to visualize Freddie's homosexuality? The use of dark lighting, ominous camera movements, and intense editing further underscore homosexuality as deviant and evil.

All told, a Best Picture nomination is probably the worst thing that could have happened to Bohemian Rhapsody. As something your dad might watch casually while folding laundry or something, there's enough flash and good tunes to make for a moderately entertaining viewing. But the praise and attention the film has received requires a more critical eye, and this is not a movie that plays well to such a perspective.

D+