I did. I truly did. I thought that if you love at least 5 of a band's songs (and I mean really love) that you were at least a passive fan. I went to Bohemian Rhapsody (in IMAX) the other night and for the entire first half, I didn't recognize any song. I heard the melodies and I was completely in the dark (literally and figuratively). Likewise, I didn't know any of the players in Freddy Mercury's life. Oh, I knew Freddy Mercury. I defy you to find someone who hasn't heard of Freddy Mercury. Mary (played by Lucy Boynton) was wonderful and I enjoyed Miami quite a bit. Mike Meyers was in it briefly as the head of a music studio and in my humble opinion, he had the best moment in the film. One of his lines was hysterical: "you need a song that will make teens turn up the volume and bang their heads and Bohemian Rhapsody ain't it." A clear, undeniable connection to Wayne's World and I laughed audibly. Sadly, my laugh was the lone reaction at the witty reference. The movie's point of view was predominantly that of Freddy Mercury and luckily I knew about him and his immeasureable contributions to Rock and Roll.
Leading up to my trip to the local AMC, I had seen a variety of reviews. Friends were saying it was a must see and while I'm at it, I must see it in IMAX (which was a mistake, we will get to that later). I also saw a good deal of reviews written by professionals online and none of them were positive save for the well deserved praise heaped upon Rami Malek for his portrayal of the legend, himself. The reviews were mostly the repudiation of Mr. Mercury's sexuality as it had been illuminated on the screen and the mind numbing results of putting most of the facts to film in various incorrect orders. For example, Freddy Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS 2 years after the Live Aid concert. Regardless, I strode through those IMAX double doors with nary an expectation and that is a rarity for this moviegoer.
As certain as anyone has heard of Freddy Mercury, they also know that he was a gay man and that he passed away well before his time due to complications with AIDS. The problem that these reviewers had with his sexuality became clear to me as I watched. The love affair with Mary was fairly well fleshed out. I think the average movie watcher would believe that Mary was the love of Freddy's life. I certainly felt it. However, once we learn, subsequently as Freddy does, that he has a penchant for men, the movie doesn't have near the coverage with any of the men in his life as we received with Mary. Not a single man significant or otherwise received the Mary treatment. Yes, Mary was the love of his life, but I felt lead to believe that he never loved again. What's more, with all of the time spent with Freddy and Mary, I still felt unsatisfied with the tumultuous events regarding their affections. I felt far worse for Mary than I did Freddy. That was an odd feeling to me since the movie focuses its attention almost exclusively on the band's ring leader.
I saw what they were saying about how Freddy's sexuality was portrayed. I also felt that whomever wrote the movie didn't care much for Freddy Mercury. It was clear that the writer thought Freddy Mercury was the musical genius that we all know him to be, however, they pulled no punches with every other aspect of his life. Freddy broke Mary's heart. Freddy apparently slept repeatedly and carelessly with other men (though that's suggested rather than shown in a montage or something of the like). Freddy killed the band by being a jerk and ultimately going solo. Freddy was desperate for friends. Freddy was lonely. Freddy ended up doing heavy drugs in order to work. Freddy Mercury was more than the sum of these parts and it's a travesty that these are the only parts we see. The previous incarnation of the movie was going to star Sasha Baron Cohen and be rated R but the band had too much input and wouldn't relinquish their influence on the movie. I don't think it's too much outside of the realm of possibility that the band's influence and everlasting jealousy (illustrated in the film) of the man who made them a headlining band lead to this outcome. The result: a projected flickering of everything that was wrong with Freddy Mercury and very little that he had done right in his life.
It's clear that the relationship with the band was strained and that they were a dysfunctional family as much as it was clear as to how much he loved Mary. That said, those were the only 2 relationships that were developed to any kind of extent. Miami was a great character and he was introduced as some kind of studio executive and then he's gone for a long while and when he comes back, Freddy fires their manager and hires Miami to do it and almost immediately he says yes and that's pretty much the extent of the relationship that we see on the screen. I don't know how the band or Freddy actually felt about him or what he was all about. I would have loved to have seen more between him and the man he ended up with, Jim Hutton. Likewise, his strained relationship with his family interested me very much, but it too went nowhere. His father was the polar opposite of proud of him and then suddenly with no resolution, Freddy repeats advice his father gave him and all is forgiven? This movie was fragmented more than any other movie in recent memory and it's due in large part to introducing several characters and then yanking them as swiftly out of the story as they entered. From what I understand, they completely reenacted the Live Aid concert at 24 minutes in length. While I thoroughly enjoyed the reenactment, that's time that could have been spent on a proper arc with any relationship that was severely abbreviated on screen. I would have been more satisfied as a customer with that content instead.
Lastly, why I cannot recommend IMAX...
There are FAR TOO MANY close ups, on virtually every character. I never needed, nor need again to see Rami Malek's face THAT big on an IMAX screen. With all of Freddy Mercury's strife with his teeth (that gave him extra range, a superpower!), I think that most people would agree that Freddy was a handsome guy. Putting Freddy's teeth on another person who doesn't have Freddy's other stronger features may have been a mistake in retrospect.
Am I a fan of the movie? I thought it was okay. There's as much that I liked about the movie that I also disliked and I believe that I have justified my feelings in this entry. I love at least 5 Queen songs which a few came about during the second half of the movie. That song recognition made it more fun for me. So how do I reconcile that my friends loved this movie and many reviewers hated it? This isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. My working theory is that in order to LOVE Bohemian Rhapsody, you MUST be a fan. I liked Bohemian Rhapsody, I didn't love it. I went for the movie and not the band. I suspect my friends went for Queen first and foremost and the movie was secondary. This is how I came to the conclusion that I must not be a true fan of Queen but rather a passer by who thoroughly enjoys select tracks of theirs.
If you want to see the awesome reenactment of Queen's Live Aid performance in the best format, you MUST see it in IMAX. If that's not that important to you I would say wait for Netflix or network television.
