SoAnyway wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:27 am
Finally saw "
Bohemian Rhapsody". Wow. Just "Wow".
This is absolutely a must-see for anyone who rocked out to "A Night at the Opera" back in the 70s or who was at Wembley or JFK in Philly for LIVE AID in the mid-80s, i.e. my generation's version of Woodstock. (As both Bob Geldof and Elton John said, Freddie stole the show - performance linked above at "RIP".) It's even a must-see for anyone who banged their head along with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in their
famous scene in the 90s flick "Wayne's World". (Not a spoiler but fyi: Mike Myers has a cameo role in "Bohemian Rhapsody" that is absolutely priceless.... Nice to see that the producers have a sense of humor and irony....) SoAnyway....
I understand why the critics and diehard fans are calling foul - Much artistic license was taken with timelines and details. Nevertheless, the film is amazing and honors an amazing man. If those closest to him endorse it - i.e. as A-Commoner pointed out, all the surviving members of Queen support it - I'm certainly not going to judge. All props to Rami Malek (!). This wasn't an easy role to perform, and he pulled it off with hard work, skill, talent and finesse.
I have to admit I was never a fan of Queen in their heyday. In the movie, they describe themselves as "singing for the misfits in the back of the room," whereas in real-life, they were quite the opposite. In my memories of high-school in the 70s, Queen was the favored band of the jocks, cheerleaders and school bullies, the kids who ran the school hierarchy. The misfits were more likely to be listening to David Bowie, Devo or Gary Numan, and assiduously avoiding the kids who were Queen fans out of self-protection. I don't know if they really misunderstood their audience that badly, or if that line was just a bit of retrospective wishful thinking, but it stood out in a jarring way.
Apart from that, it was a very good movie, and has given me a much better appreciation for Queen. Even managed to draw some tears from me, which is a pretty rare thing for a movie to accomplish. Rami Malek pulled off a masterfully convincing performance, and the other actors were all good as well.