If Freddie Mercury was alive today, one could only imagine how he would have felt about Bryan Singer's attempt at retelling his life story. But more than that, sadly, we'll just have to live with the fact that the legend didn't had the opportunity to witness his reincarnation onscreen in the form of Rami Malek's once-in-a-lifetime performance!
The man was an enigma. His eccentricity unseen before. His audacity unheard of. His talent unmatched. To bring this outrageous character alive, getting under the persona's skin is the only way. And that's precisely what thespian Rami Malek has done. Even if he doesn't do any other movies post this, it's totally fine. Because for one, this is a performance that will be remembered as long as cinema lives. Also two, not even the actor can top himself of what he's achieved here.
While the screenplay had abundance of invigorating energy that kept viewers going, its downfall came from not taking risk. A biography about a legendary Rockstar who shook the world with his craft, dealt with sexual orientation openness at the era and passed away of AIDS should have explored all possible nooks and crannies instead of dwelling in a desired comfort zone. Even uttering words like "homosexual" or "HIV" were hesitantly approached. Sitting here is a potential masterpiece, watered down heavily narrative conventions we see in almost every superstar's recount of rise and fall.
Birth of the band's songs, particularly 'We Will Rock You' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' were fundamental plus extremely fun to watch no doubt, but a motion picture's focus should be on the characters and their relationships among each other in order to rightfully earn emotional moments. The script could have displaced the many small-sized non-events with the aforementioned aspect and balanced the crests with more troughs to organically make us involved emotionally with these characters.
With all these out of the way, everyone should compulsorily watch the film for its groundbreaking climax! It definitely is one of cinema's best endings ever! The sheer amount of electricity jolting out of those final minutes can transport you to heaven and back! Even the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" doesn’t do this sequence justice! Just look at the attention to detail in recreating such an iconic concert, with every single frame etched under the intention of moving the audiences to weeping tears! And when the Bohemian Rhapsody number appeared, it was fitting as a silent farewell!
Bryan Singer has always been a great director. Here he has extracted the most pristine camerawork from Newton Thomas Sigel! Wonderful colors, perfect shot placements and sharp imagery from start to finish! John Ottman's editing was flamboyant and innovative, although at rare places the jumpy cuts back and forth did cause the flow awkward a little. Aged makeup for Freddie's parents could have certainly been done better. Last but not least, costume designs were out of the world!