By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Aidan Gillen | Allen Leach | Ben Hardy | Gwilym Lee | Joseph Mazzello | Lucy Boynton | Mike Myers | Rami Malek | Tom Hollander
Country: united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2018
Running time: 134
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727824/reference
Thom says: “Here’s the over-produced, super-hyped, hugely successful biopic of Queen, but more importantly Freddie Mercury as ostensibly, there would be no Queen sans Freddie, although, truth to tell, I might wait t o see how well the revitalized Queen does with using Adam Lambert for their lost Freddie on an upcoming tour. Besides two of director Singer’s earlier works, the classic THE USUAL SUSPECTS & the overlooked thriller APT PUPIL, he’s more famously known for his direction of super, over-the-top SFX, specifically most of the X-MEN films, so he was a surprise choice here. Malek is the main problem for me in this film. As Mercury on stage he’s as dramatically good and exciting as he should be, really mesmerizing stuff. But off the stage I found him problematic. As a portraiture it was clever but it never relaxed, at times I thought it was Diana Vreeland. I’m not a fan of MR. ROBOT but I have enjoyed Malek in MEDIUM, 24, & GILMORE GIRLS & I’m certain he’ll receive many accolades for his work here. I preferred the 3 actors who portrayed his band mates. especially the bass player. I also have to tell you that my film-going companion absolutely loved the film, from sta rt to finish. The finish-up at the LIVE AID 1985 concert was a dramatic & successful conclusion. Another serious problem for this viewer was that except with their collaboration with David Bowie on UNDER PRESSURE, I never was a fan of Queen. Mercury’s collaboration with Montserrat Caballe was a peculiar, fun turn, but not a scene here.”
Beth Cu responds: “Bryan Singer was famously booted from this film mid-way – Dexter Fletcher was the replacement. However, it seems that it was primarily clash of personalities between Singer and Malek, and Singer’s erratic, unreliable personal behavior that got him fired, not so much that they hated his vision. Fletcher has said that he didn’t do much major overhauling of the script – still, it was his hand guiding the edit, not Singer’s.
“On the one hand, I love that they cast a Middle Eastern actor to play a Middle Eastern role – on the other, I really wish they hadn’t gone so slavishly imitative. Malek already has an overbite, why gild the lily with the fake teeth? In all the trailers that’s what has distracted me the most, and led me to take a pass on this one. Plus, I think that May and Taylor had far too much power over the direction of the story – I would have preferred the Freddy Mercury story over the Queen story. Ah well.
“But, where have you been? Adam Lambert’s been fronting Queen going on 8 years now – he’s waaaay better than Paul Rodgers or anybody else they had after Freddy, and the band clearly love him and his freakish vocal gifts. They’ve actually just announced their summer US tour – you might get your chance to see them soon!”
Thom responds: “Beth, thank you so much for your fascinating comments & corrections. I always enjoy your knowledge & am embarrassed, but delightfully so, when my authoritative tone is deflated.”