Yesterday morning I saw the tweets from the Indonesian cinema chains that this movie would be playing earlier than the usual Wednesday premiere. I was a bit doubtful whether I could make it to see this as it was the day that I had to use the infamous Jakarta's unreliable public transport. Especially since the shows in the various theaters near my office were all playing at 6.15PM. Anyway I decided that I want to see it and my wife bought us the tickets for the show nearest to our home. Well let's get on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
In 1970, Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek - Mr. Robot TV series, Papillon etc) who later on renamed himself as Freddie Mercury joined a group of university students rock band named Smile, with the lead guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee - Midsommer Murders TV series etc) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy - X-Men: Apocalypse etc). Later on there was also the addition of bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzelo - The Social Network etc) and the group was renamed to Queen by Freddie. Freddie also grew very close to Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton - Murder on the Orient Express etc) and later on became lovers. However, Freddie's parents, especially his father was not too approving in his music "career".
After making a recording in a studio, Queen garnered the interest of a manager named John Reid (Aidan Gillen - Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Game of Thrones TV series etc) with his partner Paul Prenter (Allen Leech - The Hunter's Prayer, Downton Abbey TV series etc). Queen also had their own legal adviser named Jim Beach (Tom Hollander - Pride & Prejudice, In the Loop etc). They would later on tour to various countries and make numerous albums together. But behind the seemingly successful life, there was something else going on with Freddie which would later on changed his way of life and also disturbed his relationship with everyone.
So how did Queen and Freddie Mercury became so legendary today? Find them all in this breathtaking biography movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Phew this move was totally awesome! I loved every minute of it and my wife sometimes were very emotional as well during several scenes (as I did too). The movie started off very brightly with some hint of what it would become. Then the story was focusing more on the Freddie Mercury's life and how Queen was formed. The pace was moving in a steady but surprisingly not slow and certainly not boring. The movie was filled with some story relating to Freddie, but most interestingly were the scenes showing the process of some of their hit songs creation, especially the song Bohemian Rhapsody. Those scenes were very entertaining (although some might be dramatized, but still it was a very nice way of showing us).
Apart from the story of Freddie's earlier life and Queen's earlier process of making their other albums, it later on also evolved to a more serious and dramatic turn around on Freddie's personal way of life. The movie showed us quite significant amount of Queen's performance in various locations. These were also very interesting. There was 1 scene where the very popular song of Love of My Life shown that was truly emotional.
When I read they were making a movie about Queen, honestly I thought that OK, it was another biographical drama which I may or may not like. But I saw the trailer to this film several times in the past few weeks and it really made me interested. So I was really happy that I decided to go ahead and see this last night as it was one of the best experience I ever had watching a movie about a rock band's biography. However, what I did not know earlier was the fact that it focused more on Freddie Mercury, even though it was supposed to be about Queen. And to let you in on it, Rami Malek was amazing and magnificent as Freddie Mercury. Sometimes I really could picture him as the real Freddie and the prosthetic teeth effects were also great making his face feature also similar, especially after he had the mustache. The sound effects were very good, which would have been much greater if I saw this in a studio with Dolby Atmos system.
All the Queen's performance on stage and when creating the songs were wonderfully done. The crew did fantastic job recreating those scenes. The best of it all would surely be the performance during the 1985 Live Aid concert. That was really great, impressive and truly spectacular! It was a really grand finale that captivated me and my wife. I was in awe by the huge performance and got a bit of goosebumps seeing those tens of thousands of people in the Wembley stadium singing together with Queen. And I know that my wife was really emotional, especially when the song We Are the Champions were sung.
Now I know that critics were not really receptive to this movie due to some historical inaccuracy, but I thought if the rest of the band who had some influence on the movie as creative consultants did not object to it, then it may not really mattered to them? Although I could understand that if it was a biography movie, it would have to be as accurate as possible. It also had some internal problems as well with the original director Bryan Singer (famous for directing movies like X-Men series, Valkyrie and several others) unable to finish directing and was replaced by Dexter Fletcher.
Anyway, my take of the movie is, despite the possible inaccuracy, it was a truly enjoyable and memorable film. Remi Malek gave undoubtedly a great performance to my opinion and apparently all critics were unanimous in praising his performance. For me and my wife who apparently knew more Queen songs that we realized, we really had a wonderful time, and I personally did not have a single objection to the movie.
Oh before I forgot, despite the movie categorized as PG-13 in the US, it got the 17+ rating in here, which I thought was probably more suitable since there were scenes more for adults (few scenes were cut by Indonesian censorship body). When I saw the end credit which showed a real life Queen's performance, I noticed there were so many songs mentioned (no surprise there) but there was no post end credit scene. Overall, this would be a really recommended movie for Queen fans, or audience who loved to see a movie about legendary rock band and the personal life of Freddie Mercury. But if you are like one of those critics who believed that historical accuracy is a must, then you might not enjoy it. The choice is yours.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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