Movie Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: While this is not a perfect movie by any means, what works is fantastic.


Let's get the most obvious thing out of the way. The music is incredible. Queen's songs are always fantastic to hear. They sound like no other rock band in the world. Their songwriting skills were absolutely amazing and they had the musicianship to match. With Queen members Brain May and Roger Taylor producing the soundtrack themselves, it is no wonder this movie shines so brightly in this department. I have a feeling this soundtrack can and probably will turn the unconverted into Queen fans.


The cast in this film is absolutely incredible as well. This is especially true of those playing the four band members. There are times watching this movie that I forgot I was watching actors. I felt like I was really seeing Queen. This is true in both the dramatic scenes and the musical performances. While it is true that the music is original Queen recordings, the cast still had to appear on screen as if they were performing these songs. This could not have worked better. You believe every second that you are watching Queen perform. The sheer presence and energy conveyed by the cast is amazing. They have the fantastic charisma that is a very important part of rock and roll. During the dramatic scenes there is no denying that these four actors share great chemistry together. You love watching them play off each other in the more playful and humorous scenes, just as much as you believe in the love and affection the band shares in the serious scenes. During any fights you feel bad and truly want to see them patch things up, not just because of the music but because you want to see these four together. The visual transformation of the cast is also incredible. Congratz to not only the actors, but to the makeup artists, hair stylists and costume designers for making these four look exactly like the true life people they are portraying.

The story is quite good, but at first it seems a little unfocused. It feels like the movie hasn't decided whether it wants to be about Freddie's romantic relationships, the stories behind famous songs, the band's trouble with mangers, Freddie's relationship to his family, the band's fights or a collection of performances of the band's best songs. All this is done quite well but they don't see to tie together as well as they should, making the movie feel a little confused. This is however remedied as the film goes on. Further into the film, the movie becomes about Freddie's self destructive nature and him having to learn how to deal with and atone for his personal demons to get his life on track. True this is similar to the basic plot of many musical bio-pics, but it is still done really well despite feeling cliché at times.

-Michael J. Ruhland