A couple of days ago me and my friend had a chance to watch 'Bohemian Rhapsody', a biographical movie about the band 'Queen' and its singer, Freddie Mercury. We saw the movie after getting tickets to the film's premiere last Saturday.
The reason that we decided to watch the film wasn't actually that obvious. I didn't feel that excited about watching the biopic, since a lot of the movie critics hadn't liked the movie that much (only 59% fresh on Rottentomatoes.com).
Nevertheless, having now seen 'Bohemian Rhapsody', it has to be said that the film was much better than I expected. It was so good that I don't really understand why critics thought that the movie was somehow lacking and wasn't good enough.
After all, critics - for some weird reason - have complained that movie isn't all that great as a whole. The story in the film is supposedly too 'formulaic', it doesn't show enough of Freddie's 'dark side' and doesn't make him 'gay enough' either.
The biggest problem that I have with these kind of critiques is that they - in my opinion - miss the point of the film completely. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was not produced so that it could be as dramatic or as serious (depressing) as possible.
In reality, the film was made so that it could be as entertaining as possible and that it could make people feel good about themselves. It wasn't going to be another 'Freddie's got Aids' movie that the critics were hoping for.
So when it comes to the story in the movie, even though the film is genuinely dramatic in parts and depicts Freddie (Rami Malek) as a gay man (or bisexual), that's not all there is to it. The focus is a lot more on the band and how it became so successful.
Indeed, this decision to pay attention to all the characters works really well. The movie concentrating on the group dynamics of the band and their creative process works much better than just focusing on Freddie's private life.
After all, throughout the movie there's a really nice balance between the cast members and it manages to keep the dramatic and the comedic elements balanced. This harmony in the story gives the movie its much needed energy and its uplifting tone.
In that sense, I can't help but to think that had the film been about Freddie and had it been too serious, it probably wouldn't have worked. The filmmakers wouldn't have managed to capture what made the band work so well together.
After all, had the critics had gotten their way, we probably would have gotten a miserable 'art' film instead. We would have gotten a movie about all the bad moments in Freddie Mercury's life, that would have only been liked by the critics.
In the end, thankfully 'Bohemian Rhapsody's' turned out to be as good as it did. We are lucky that we got a film that is so full of positive energy and that didn't take its audience for granted when it comes to entertaining us.
After all, especially when it comes to scenes where the band performs songs (like in 'Live Aid'), those moments were absolutely incredible. The energetic songs fit in perfectly with the rest of the movie and made the film what it is.
In that sense, if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should see it. You should see the film, because even though critics didn't like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that much, at least in my view, the film was superbly made and managed to exceed all my expectations.
After all, critics - for some weird reason - have complained that movie isn't all that great as a whole. The story in the film is supposedly too 'formulaic', it doesn't show enough of Freddie's 'dark side' and doesn't make him 'gay enough' either.
The biggest problem that I have with these kind of critiques is that they - in my opinion - miss the point of the film completely. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was not produced so that it could be as dramatic or as serious (depressing) as possible.
In reality, the film was made so that it could be as entertaining as possible and that it could make people feel good about themselves. It wasn't going to be another 'Freddie's got Aids' movie that the critics were hoping for.
So when it comes to the story in the movie, even though the film is genuinely dramatic in parts and depicts Freddie (Rami Malek) as a gay man (or bisexual), that's not all there is to it. The focus is a lot more on the band and how it became so successful.
Indeed, this decision to pay attention to all the characters works really well. The movie concentrating on the group dynamics of the band and their creative process works much better than just focusing on Freddie's private life.
After all, throughout the movie there's a really nice balance between the cast members and it manages to keep the dramatic and the comedic elements balanced. This harmony in the story gives the movie its much needed energy and its uplifting tone.
In that sense, I can't help but to think that had the film been about Freddie and had it been too serious, it probably wouldn't have worked. The filmmakers wouldn't have managed to capture what made the band work so well together.
After all, had the critics had gotten their way, we probably would have gotten a miserable 'art' film instead. We would have gotten a movie about all the bad moments in Freddie Mercury's life, that would have only been liked by the critics.
In the end, thankfully 'Bohemian Rhapsody's' turned out to be as good as it did. We are lucky that we got a film that is so full of positive energy and that didn't take its audience for granted when it comes to entertaining us.
After all, especially when it comes to scenes where the band performs songs (like in 'Live Aid'), those moments were absolutely incredible. The energetic songs fit in perfectly with the rest of the movie and made the film what it is.
In that sense, if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should see it. You should see the film, because even though critics didn't like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that much, at least in my view, the film was superbly made and managed to exceed all my expectations.
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