“Bohemian Rhapsody” tells the story of legendary rock band Queen, with a heavy focus on front man and lead singer, Freddie Mercury.
The film follows Mercury, played by Rami Malek, from when he first meets the band that would later become Queen, and shows the journey of the band as they go from obscurity to superstardom.
In the process it shows some of the stories behind some of their iconic songs and some of the interpersonal relationships that helped shape the band and Freddie Mercury himself.
This film has two main saving graces: the music and Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury.
If all you want to do is listen to Queen music in a theater setting, this film is for you. The music sounds fantastic as ever, with slightly remastered versions of the legendary songs.
Rami Malek’s starring performance is also very well done. The physical similarity between Malek and Mercury is striking, and when he is performing on stage it can be easy to forget that you are watching an actor give a performance. It really feels like you are watching Freddie Mercury perform.
Aside from those factors, the film itself is pretty average. If you have ever seen a band film before, then you are already familiar with the story told in this film.
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While it does tell the story of Queen, it is not a completely authentic version of the story. Some of the real-life events were modified or rearranged to better fit the generic narrative structure that the story was trying to tell.
It hits all the standard story beats that you would expect, even if it has to break from reality in order to do so. This does not necessarily make it bad.
Countless movies modify the truth to make for a better story, but in this case it leads to the movie feeling somewhat generic and forgettable.
If you go into this film expecting the true story behind Freddie Mercury and Queen, you are bound to be let down. While this film is not a Queen concert, it may as well be.
Even the film itself tends to treat the story and characters as secondary, simply using them to forward the plot enough that it can play the next song. That being said, the songs themselves are fantastic, and are enough to make for a very enjoyable movie experience. I give the film a 5/10 and the music a 10/10.
Caleb Compton is a graduate student in computer science. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Collegian. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
