A bio-pic about Freddie Mercury and Queen while they were at the height of their powers? Yes, please.

Bohemian Rhapsody (M)
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Bohemian Rhapsody‘s troubled production history is well documented. After years in development hell before shooting even began, director Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects) was fired during production and the film completed by Dexter Fletcher (of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels fame).  The end result is a film that arguably races through its story, and Queen fans might argue that some of the more interesting aspects are either portrayed incorrectly or left out entirely.

But it’s hard to hate, partially because the movie ends on a high note: an almost-complete recreation of Queen’s legendary Live Aid performance. A painstakingly-detailed rendering of Wembley Stadium provides the backdrop for the film’s grand finale, arguably the closest you’ll get to seeing Queen’s original line-up live in 2018. The film is at its strongest when Queen is on stage; the amount of work put in by Rami Malek (better known for Mr Robot) to replicate Freddie’s costumes and mannerisms really pays off during the band’s performances.

Freddie (Malek) is working as an airline baggage handler at the start of the film; he spends his nights in bars watching bands, to the chagrin of his parents. One night he meets Brian May (a brilliantly-cast Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy); their band is without a singer, and Freddie offers to join. The band recruits bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello), records its first album, and their rise to stardom begins.

The film covers the band’s argument with its record company over the length of Bohemian Rhapsody and its selection as the first single off  A Night At The Opera; Mercury takes the single to disc jockey Kenny Everett, who plays it on his radio show. (One neat bit of Queen trivia that is not shown in the film: Everett playing it incessantly, 30 times a day, to the disgust of his station managers.) With Bo Rap becoming a hit, the movie covers the band’s continued success; meanwhile, Mercury falls in love and gets engaged to Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), but away from home is increasingly lured into a hedonistic lifestyle of alcohol, drugs and men, a mixture that threatens to break up the band and destroy his relationship.

Hardcore Queen fans will find a lot of bones to pick in the film; there are numerous inaccuracies in terms of timing of particular events. For example, near the end of the film Freddie quietly reveals to his bandmates that he has AIDS; Freddie reportedly didn’t find out about his HIV status until after Live Aid, but it is included here to help build up to their triumphant Wembley performance. Similarly, it’s stated that the band had broken up to allow Freddie to pursue a solo career, and hadn’t performed together ‘in years’ before Live Aid; in reality, they had toured the year before and there had been no break-up. Songs are released out of order, with some albums glossed over entirely, and major career events (like Queen’s performance at Rock In Rio) have also had their timings manipulated to help the film’s pacing.

There are some clever moments in the film (Mike Myers plays a clueless record company executive, giving the movie a chance to make a subtle Wayne’s World reference), and it doesn’t gloss over the more controversial aspects of Mercury’s life; but it does speed past them a bit. Mercury’s relationships and dalliances are often reduced to subtle glances, and in particular his relationship with manager Paul Prenter (Allen Leech), shown as damaging to both himself and the band, could also have been elaborated on.

Whether this matters to you will depend on whether you need your biographical movies to be, well, biographical. If you’re not bothered by the details and just want to see and hear Queen on the big screen, then much like another tribute to Queen, Ben Elton’s musical We Will Rock You, this is worth your investment even if critics have not been so supportive. And even if you are nitpicky, seeing the Live Aid sequence on the big screen is worth the price of admission on its own.