From the countless hits created by the band Queen to the dramatic and devastating story of what happened to the band behind the scenes, the Oscar winning movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, has it all. The movie centers around the lead singer of the band, Freddie Mercury, and his creativity and performance, as well as his difficult life.

Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury is truly incredible. His performances on stage capture the ability that Freddie Mercury had to control and entertain his crowds. He also shows the extremely emotional side of Freddie Mercury during his struggle with his sexuality and his battle with AIDS.

Many critics have felt the movie portrayed the songs as more of a medley of the band’s greatest hits. However, Queen had so many iconic songs that it would hard to showcase to show each song in its entirety. The movie captured the essence of the crowd and the hype of seeing Queen live, while managing to feature almost every major song from Queen.

Viewers of the movie also learned about the band’s tumultuous break up and Mercury’s solo career, which according to the movie seemed to be heavily influenced by Mercury’s boyfriend and manager. The movie showed the dark times Mercury went through with drugs and alcohol after he decided to go solo. They also portrayed a role reversal of the members of the band when Mercury decided he wanted the back together. At the beginning of the movie, Mercury dominated the rehearsals. However, when he asked the band to get back together, the members forced him to wait while they discussed their decision to let him back in and the rehearsals became much more collaborative.  

The movie also did an amazing job showing the creative process of every song and how each song came to be. When they created the song “We Will Rock You”, the movie showed the band members explaining how they wanted the crowd to be involved in the song and then cut to the crowd clapping their hands to the iconic beat. This choice really conveyed how each song became successful and renowned.

The movie ended with the band’s incredibly successful reunion at Live Aid. Between the electrifying scenes of Mercury performing at Wembley stadium and the emotional scenes of Mercury’s family watching him and finally accepting him for who he was juxtaposed together, the ending truly showcased the complicated, yet amazing life of Freddie Mercury.

I recommend watching this film. The film had drama, comedy, and music, so no matter what you are looking for, you can find it in Bohemian Rhapsody.