Bohemian Rhapsody

[Aximili86]

It's not about whether the guy was gay or bi, that doesn't matter. Any fan of the band knows Freddie slept with women too, but the point is he seemed to have two pretty major, serious, longterm relationships in life, Austin & Hutton. And Huston's pretty much skipped over - yeah, the movie doesn't cover much of that period by design, but clearly that was a choice made. And there was an option to feature that part of the story if they so chose.

I can kinda see how that might bug some people. Clearly, yeah, it's a flick about the band, more of a music/career than personal lives focus, but you'd still kinda figure if you're going for a definitive Queen/Freddy movie that Hutton would sort of register as high enough on the importance bar to factor in.

Still, it's not a huge deal, it's clearly not some anti-homosexual thing, anyone saying differently is an idiot. But I guess for anyone a part of the gay community it might come off as a little odd to just gloss over the guy that way.

 

[Broseph44]

Saw this today and as a Queen fan absolutely loved it. Amazing performance by Malek, great performances all around and so well done the recreating of the live performances. Some really emotional moments in this too I definitely had some tears going. That Live Aid performance at the end was

 

[Schlosser85]

I’m in the theater about half an hour to showtime.

 

[Schlosser85]

I dug it.

 

[Schlosser85]

This didn’t downplay Freddie being gay, btw.

That was a pretty empty accusation IMO.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

I'm seeing this tonight for the second time - this time with my Dad who actually saw Queen perform live more than once. Will be interesting to see what he thinks!

EDIT - My Dad loved it. Got quite emotional.

 

[TheAQU4M4N]

So I’m curious as to how much Rami actually sung.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

So I’m curious as to how much Rami actually sung.

From what I understand the vocals were a mix of Rami Malek, Freddie Mercury and Marc Martel (who has a voice eerily similar to Freddie)

 

[tanita_mors]

I LOVED IT. Seriously, i just can't be objective about this movie. It's Queen, it's Freddy. I almost want to call it perfect, even thought it's definitely not, but it left me just full of hope, joy and sadness. I'm almost not sure if I'm satisfied about the ending, because ending it on a high note, on the music, is perfect, but I almost wanted them to show his death with The Show Must Go On at the end, and not over the credits. Rami was brilliant, and every one else did a fine job. I thought that the movie showed his private life in the way Freddy did himself and the way we all knew it, big emphases on Mary with his gay adventures being hidden, behind closed doors. It reflects his life as I know it.

Live Aid was unreal. I had tears in my eyes. The showmanship, the crowd,... If I had a time machine and could pick a live performance to visit, it would be either Queen at Live Aid or the first ever performance of the Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

I LOVED IT. Seriously, i just can't be objective about this movie. It's Queen, it's Freddy. I almost want to call it perfect, even thought it's definitely not, but it left me just full of hope, joy and sadness. I'm almost not sure if I'm satisfied about the ending, because ending it on a high note, on the music, is perfect, but I almost wanted them to show his death with The Show Must Go On at the end, and not over the credits. Rami was brilliant, and every one else did a fine job. I thought that the movie showed his private life in the way Freddy did himself and the way we all knew it, big emphases on Mary with his gay adventures being hidden, behind closed doors. It reflects his life as I know it.

Live Aid was unreal. I had tears in my eyes. The showmanship, the crowd,... If I had a time machine and could pick a live performance to visit, it would be either Queen at Live Aid or the first ever performance of the Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Great review! I enjoy reading all the positive reaction

 

[tanita_mors]

Well, it's from the heart. I truly enjoyed myself during this movie. Singing along, stomping my feet. I'm sure it has flaws, but I just don't want to analyze anything. It was an experience, like Infinity War was for superhero movies. The last biopics I really loved were the emotional roller-coaster Saving Mr. Banks and Eddie the Eagle.

 

[MOVIELORD101]

SERIOUSLY INTERNET?? You came to THIS conclusion???? Ok, this article's got me MAD.

An open letter to the many fans of Bohemian Rhapsody from a concerned queer | CBC Arts The Freddie Mercury biopic isn't just inaccurate — its demonization of his sexuality is actively harmful. cbc.ca

 

[Schlosser85]

It doesn’t demonize his sexuality. It portrays him ending up with Jim Hutton as a positive thing and part of getting his life together.

 

[JP]

Yeah I don't ****ing understand the negative reviews OR my queer brethren burning thing film at the stake.

 

[MAN O STEEL]

As Schlosser85 said above Jim may not have had as much screen time as Mary but he was treated as someone who didn't care for Freddie's money or fame nor Freddie's sexual advances earlier in the film. He sat down with Freddie after the party because he wanted to know the man as he is, not the rockstar and encouraged Freddie to be himself and not what his fake party friends wanted him to be. He as a character was treated outside of Mary as one of the only people to love the man not the legend everyone expected. So his relationship with Freddie was treated with utter respect. When they had him standing with Mary at live Aid it was a way to show that Freddie's life is complete. He had his best friend and the lover he always wanted standing together in complete unity for the man they loved so dearly. That shows respect to Jim Hutton imo

 

[Schlosser85]

He’s almost a light at the end of a tunnel.

 

[MAN O STEEL]

He’s almost a light at the end of a tunnel.

Exactly. He was what Feeddie was looking for his whole life. He found someone who, like Mary, loved him for who he was and not his money and fame but also his own sexual preference. When he said to Mary earlier in the film, when asked what he wanted from her, he said, Almost everything. Implying that Mary gave him everything he wanted but that he couldn't do that for her because he liked men. In Hutton he did find everything because Hutton treated him as Mary did with the added bonus of being a man he could give everything to in return. Mary may have been his soul mate but Jim was a person he could give everything to, that he knew he couldn't give Mary. Mary and Jim both complimented Freddie like two sides of the same coin.

 

[MOVIELORD101]

MORE BS complaints. Seriously, why do they have to whine so much about historical accuracy and don't just comment on how good it was AS A MOVIE?

Bohemian Rhapsody Is Under Fire for Getting Freddie Mercury's Legacy Wrong

 

[terry78]

If they want to *****, talk to the remaining members. They were the ones that pretty much had final say.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Wow...

Watched this yesterday, what a great movie! The casting was phenomenal.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, the "demonization" stuff is taking it way too far. Especially given, you know, Singer.

I just felt the random arbitrary changes they made didn't really serve any purpose, and just in general the movie comes off a little weak & punch-pull-y in places. But that's minor.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

MORE BS complaints. Seriously, why do they have to whine so much about historical accuracy and don't just comment on how good it was AS A MOVIE?

Bohemian Rhapsody Is Under Fire for Getting Freddie Mercury's Legacy Wrong

I wonder if they'll say the same about Rocketman next year as well. There are many biopics (The King's Speech, Darkest Hour, Lincoln, The Imitation Game etc) that take liberties to drive the narrative. It's not a new concept. For some reason they've really latched onto that criticism for Bohemian Rhapsody. Does it really matter when exactly Freddie got AIDS or when he told band members? And who knows if Queen had a falling out or not? Seeing as Freddie's solo album was titled Mr Bad Guy, I wouldn't be surprised if something went down. Maybe they wanted to keep it private. At the end of the day, Brian and Roger authorised what we saw on screen and that's good enough for me. I came out of the movie loving Freddie more than ever.

 

[tanita_mors]

Please, most of these things happened, not in the order they did in the movie, but most of them were real, just rearranged in time for narrative structure. If people want to pail on the fiction in historical work, they should watch the last seasons of Versailles and Masters of Sex - talk about massive creative liberties.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Unless the liberty is so extreme that it completely misses the point of the person they are dramatizing, then moving things around for better dramatic structure is obviously completely fine. The point of a movie like this is so people get an idea of the man then can go and look up his "real" life. The movie is just a gateway.

 

[tanita_mors]

IDK, personally, I think the film fully managed to captured the essence of Mercury, all the struggle, the fame, the glory , the tragedy and convey the legacy this man left behind.

If nothing else, it is introducing Queen to a whole new generation of young people who haven't heard of them before or have heard their hits and didn't know who played them. Just take a look at hundreds if not thousands of First Time Listen videos on YouTube. People have been singing We Will Rock You and We are the Champions for 40 years on almost every sporting event imaginable, and had no idea those were Queen songs.