We’re 88Nine’s Justin Barney and Milwaukee Film’s Kpolly. We’re buds, we like cinema—we’re Cinebuds. This week on the podcast, we’re talking about (and trying not to sing) “Bohemian Rhapsody” which is showing now in Milwaukee theaters.
Read more and listen to the podcast episode to hear our review of the new Freddie Mercury/Queen (but mostly Freddie Mercury) biopic.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" Review
This movie did what we think it was trying to do—trigger nostalgia. If you're a hardcore fan, it will get you excited about Queen all over again. And if you're just a casual Queen listener, it'll make you keep going—"Oh yeah, they did that song too!"
It's a great foot-stomping celebration of Queen that will make you realize (again or for the first time) just how unstoppable the band was.
But for a group as unconventional and ground-breaking as Queen was, the movie failed to "Break Free" from convention.
It follows what's become a pretty typical biopic formula—They start small, they get the big break, they have some fun, deal with fame (and often drugs and alcohol), they fight, it gets emotional and it all swells to a glorious end.
It makes us wonder how much was exaggerated, how much was downplayed, how much we actually learned about Queen and how much of that was even factual.
We went into the theater thinking that we didn't really know a lot about Freddie Mercury. And we left still wanting to know a lot more about him, which could be a good or a bad thing.
But if we learned anything at all about Freddie Mercury in this movie, it was that he was a great performer. The last 20 minutes of the movie basically become a great concert film that made us leave inspired.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is now showing in Milwaukee.
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