In 1970, the British rock band Queen was born and originated by Freddie Mercury, a flamboyant, quiet person whom a lot of the world dwelled on his sexuality and flamboyance. Over the course of their 14 album career, the band, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May along with Freddie Mercury became overnight champions of the world. Well, after Mr. Mercury’s death from Aids in 1991, there is a made-for-the-big-screen movie that opens nationwide November, 2, 2018. Rami Malek from the USA T.V. series Mr. Robot stars as Freddie Mercury in a biographical story about the life and times of Freddie.
Freddie defied all odds against record companies by reaching unparalleled music success and his 5 octave sound fortune. This film places emphasis on Freddie’s life leading up to Queen’s formation and their historical performance at Live Aid. He constantly flirted with both sexes and soon realized that even though he had a relationship with a female Mary Austin (Lucy Baynton) and had a lot of affection for her, he would push her aside to swing the other way. Most all the story centers on this but does it quite respectfully. When director Bryan Singer gets down to the meat and bones of the film we see all Queen’s famous songs born and all the band bickering that went with it. Eventually Freddie’s head swole and he ventured out on a solo career but after a a short standoff and clearing his head of all the negativity and booze, he reunited with Queen for Live Aid that is one for the history books.
When he broke the news about his contracting AIDS he carried on and nothing else mattered but his music that will rock you.
I would have liked this Queen biopic to focus more on the era of their music rather on Freddie’s bisexuality. Freddie was an amazing artist. He should be remembered for his skills (and his love for cats) not for his sexual preferences. That alone probably helped put him and the band under pressure. The film also stars Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Mike Myers as Ray Foster, Joesph Masselo as John Deacon and Gwilym Lee as Brian May. I was fortunate enough to see Queen’s Indianapolis appearance back in the day. It was a foot-stomping show of high caliper. Bohemian Rhapsody open everywhere November 2, 2018. C+
