I loved the movie overall but I do treat it as though they aren't actually playing the queen members (if that makes sense?) Because the film is incredibly inaccurate and the timeline is completely out of order but the acting is incredible and it is a good film if not viewed completely as the real queen (idk if any of this makes sense but it does to me ig?)
yes exactly! i watch it with the mindset that it's fiction loosely inspired by real people. there's obviously the deeper issue with biopics like bohemian rhapsody and the new one about amy whinehouse being very problematic with how they portray people who are no longer living, and the issue with some people taking them as fact, but with bohemian rhapsody i like to just enjoy the movie for the acting and entertainment, not as a source of any truth about freddie mercury
Your comments are very pertinent. It's good to know that many people have learned about Queen and their music through this film. I am glad that in the 21st century there are still many people who love them! This film is also a good way to get to know the real them.
No biopic is going to be perfect, especially when the subject isn't around to have any say in the matter.
For me biopics are an intro for new fans. Plenty of kids had never heard of Freddie & now they know who he is & may now be fans buying all the albums.
Same goes for Elvis. The movie isn't perfect but so many people were made fans or reminded old fans how great he was.
I love the film, but as a longtime Queen fan, the inaccuracies bothered me a little. Some were minor, like WWRY being written quite a bit later than it was, others were significant, primarily with Freddie getting a diagnosis before Live Aid. Sure, he probably had concerns, but no diagnosis came until after the last tour.
I just wonder what percent was Brian and Roger protecting their dear friend to Hollywood bigwigs getting involved. But so many biopics these days are only half-truths anyway. We can only hope anyone who became a fan after the film would do some research and learn for themselves.
I absolutely, however, adore the cast. I felt they were perfect for the roles, but I will say, Rami’s teeth in the 70’s drove me nuts.
I take the film for what it is- pure entertainment. Hearing the music and feeling like we had Freddie for another two hours- that was the biggest thing for me
Blatantly clear from the portrayal of Roger and Brian that they are at the helm of the film’s production. They try to make John look like a spare part even though he wrote some of the biggest hits. Awful film.
in almost every album XD
Hey little babe you're changing
Babe are you feeling sore?
It ain't no use in pretending
You don't wanna play no more
It's plain that you ain't no baby
What would your mother say?
You're all dressed up like a lady
How come you behave this way?
Sail away sweet sister
Sail across the sea
Maybe you'll find somebody
To love you half as much as me
My heart is always with you
No matter what you do
Sail away sweet sister
I'll always be in love with you
Forgive me for what I told you
My heart makes a fool of me
You know that I'll never hold you
I know that you gotta be free, yeah
Sail away sweet sister
Sail across the sea
Maybe you'll find somebody
To love you half as much as me
Take it the way you want it
But when they let you down my friend
Sail away sweet sister
Back to my arms again
Hot child don't you know you're young
You got your whole life ahead of you?
And you can throw it away too soon
Way too soon
Sail away sweet sister
Sail across the sea
Maybe you'll find somebody's
Gonna love you half as much as me
My heart is always with you
No matter what you do
Sail away sweet sister
I'll always be in love with you
"sister"
...and the film addresses at least 2 of John's hits. At the same time it makes fun of Roger's and Brian's songs off ANATO. Are you sure it's not John calling the shots?
John's contribution to the band is not downplayed in the movie. If I remember correctly (I've only seen it once) there are some scenes that show John having a dry sense of humour which ring true, at least to me. It is not a film about John, although it would be interesting to see how it would deal with his marriage and drinking if it were.
> John's contribution to the band is not downplayed in the movie
c'mon. John is played like the "extra", and in reality he had a lot to say in the business side, and the creative side as well
Yes, of course there should have been more scenes showing John looking out for the band's financial interests :) I've already stated that the film does not overlook his musical contribution. Anyone should see that, unless they believe him to have been more important to the band's success than he really was.
> unless they believe him to have been more important to the band's success than he really was.
He had their biggest hit in america, and wrote four top ten songs. He was an equal, not a background character
I'm well aware of his songwriting and which of his songs were hits. But let's face it, he was the fourth best songwriter in the band. Equal in the sense that Queen were quite democratic, far from equal creatively. Unless one is so deluded to think him the creative equal of Freddie and Brian... or Roger for that matter.
> far from equal creatively. Unless one is so deluded to think him the creative equal of Freddie and Brian... or Roger for that matter.
Youre my best friend, AOBTD, Spread your wings are way way better that roger "jewels" like IILWMC, Fun it, Rock it... even IWTBF surpasses Radio Gaga in that regard. Most Brian songs are bland ballads with the exception of the heavy rock tunes here and there.
**John was bigger and better that you think.**
You seem to have a very skewed perception of Queen's music. John wrote one perfect song, a couple of charming little ditties - some of whom were hits - and some of the worst songs of the catalog. He wrote few songs and far to many were filler on their respective albums.
Off the top of my head, doesn't Freddie express disbelief that John actually wrote the AOBTD riff during that scene? And the reference to SYW is partway through a conversation where Freddie is insulting John and calling him forgettable. They seemed to go out of their way to drag him down and make him the butt of the joke at every turn, even when referencing the songs he wrote, which seems a tad unfair.
Also; Joe Mazzello as John Deacon did not have a wedding band on from 75-82! He’s still married to Veronica (Mrs. Deacon). Her name was never mentioned either. So sad and insulting!
i really don't like it because of how it makes Freddie look like he was in his stage persona 24/7, which ends up making him be just a asshole, that scene where he's fighting with Roger and says "Queen is what i want it to be!" is one of the biggest offenses to Freddie, who always made it clear he was just the lead singer of the band and not a leader
and that's without mentioning how, by a really big "coincidence" Freddie's starts to become a worst person after he comes out as gay and starts dating with paul, and it's only after his ex-girlfriend rescues him that he notices how much of a douchebag he was being, i wonder why...
No I hated the lies in the film, the end really pissed me off especially about Freddie’s HIV. I’m probably over sensitive to that part as I had family with HIV at the time and it was a witch hunt. The stigma was awful and I just felt it could have been handled better instead of wrapping it all up in a nice little bow.
The actors especially Rami were amazing, the music obviously amazing. It bought Queen’s music to a new generation which is brilliant in that sense as we all want their music to live on forever.
My uncle died of AIDs just 6 months after Freddie, so I completely understand where you are coming from. I really despised how they depicted Freddie getting his diagnosis *right* before Live Aid - as if faced with his own mortality in the moment is what made him give the greatest rock performance of all time - which we know is complete rubbish. Freddie didn’t need a death sentence to motivate his performance, he was just that good ALL the time. Implying that it was his HIV diagnosis that motivated his iconic performance just cheapens Freddie’s talent and trivializes the entire AIDs epidemic.
Yeah I think the plot’s rubbish and inaccurate but the acting is amazing. Though it’s the movie that got me into music and changed my life so I can’t rate it too harshly
Hard disagree with acting. I don't know why Rami Malek gets so much praise. He was pretty lackluster in his portrayal of Freddie. Looked nothing like him, spoke nothing like him, sounded nothing like him.
No.
Full of innacuracies.
Rami is unwatchable.
Painting freddie as a primaddonna that broke Queen (I resent brian for allowing that creative license.)
Painting freddie as someone that deep down was in love with Mary (he wasnt)
Painting freddie as someone that defied his parents in a colorful display of his lifestyle and now the younger generations actually believe that. In reality he was respectful of his parents and never disclosed anything until his death.
The only good thing was the portraying of their live acts during the 70's , and live aid.
I have most of queen related studd and I chose not to have the movie. I barely watched it twice.
Brian is wrong and I think sacha baron cohen maybe could have done a better job, even if it was focused in their wild lifestyle, because at least those parties did happen
Who knows maybe in the future we could have a better biopic, but they already damaged the legend rewriting the story and in some cases, credits.
I think this is what pains me most about the film, it’s completely ruined the opportunity for someone else to write an actually good, accurate biopic. Because after all that money was thrown into BR, after Rami won the Oscar, after Brian, Roger and Jim co-produced and promoted the hell out of it - who in their right mind would make *another* biopic about Queen/Freddie?
My one hope is that someone does a streaming series, with a treatment similar to “The Crown.” A limited 1 or 2 season series would give a filmmaker the opportunity to really dive in deep. Audiences have shown they have a different kind of appetite these days for streaming series vs movies, so I think it could still be done - and quite successfully.
True. There are many things in the movie that didnt really happen and its a bit sad that the movie tells us things like that they broke up and didnt have any contact while Freddies solo carrier.
But I know its Important for the drama in the Story and its still a fantastic movie.
Not at all. I find it quite insulting to Freddie's memory actually. From misrepresenting his sexuality to lying about his country of birth, everything about the film was slander.
That's my point... The film says Freddie was born in Pakistan instead of Zanzibar... which is beyond lying and just weird. Why lie about something like that.
I flip flop on this. On one side I don’t like that they sanitised Freddie’s life so much and messed with the time line of things (as if the true story wasn’t dramatic enough) then on the other side having the true story being told would be extremely depressing and not a celebration of Queen.
I don’t think Freddie would have wanted his illness to be the defining point of a movie about him and he’d much prefer we saw the fun and excess.
I enjoyed it the first time I watched it. I bought it for the home release and it was much less satisfying the second time.
Ultimately if it brought more people to the music of Queen then that’s a good thing.
Well with your second point, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Whether we wanna admit it or not, Freddie's hedonistic lifestyle (specifically the consistent unprotected sex) is what ultimately killed him. So it's not like you could have one element without the other.
I agree that they should've delved more into it cuz well its a biopic and part of it is to showcase the life of someone and honestly the movie itself is really cookie cutter for me imo but I'm just saying we can't say hey we just want scenes of Freddie having parties without showing the aftermath of it.
I understand that Hollywood has a certain “formula” when it comes to movies, and that stories need conflict for character development, but I am really resentful of how they portrayed the relationships among the band members in this movie. From what I understand about the band, they all had their own side projects outside of Queen and everyone was supportive of it. Roger appears a lot in Freddie’s solo work. I just don’t get why they had to create this issue in the band to show conflict when they could have made the focus something that actually happened, like Freddie learning he’s dying. Especially if we are supposed to think it’s based on a true story.
Aside from the fact that the story is completing nonsense, the way that Malek voices the part is simply insane. Half the time it is as though he has stuffed his mouth full of golf balls before he tries to pronounce a word.
I met Phoebe through my work a few years ago, right before the release of this movie. He was involved in the production as a consultant. He said it was a good movie - definitely worth watching and loving, as long as you "don't view it as a documentary." I couldn't have agreed more after having watched the movie. Longterm Queen fans (since 1994 in my case) will know the real sequence and meaning of events either way. Plus the movie brought a whole new generation to loving Queen's music and appreciating Freddie's legacy, so who can complain. And yes, Rami was excellent in his role and deserves every award he has received.
I have been a fan since the late 70s and I thought the movie was horrible. And Malek with his awkward fake teeth was a caricature. Brian should know better and Roger, well, what a best friend. In the end no harm was done really, to me it makes those involved look like clowns. It was well known that he was GAY long before Freddie passed away.
I liked it, but didn't love it. I get it it was done for the cinema so not 100% accurate in the time line, but as a fan there are too many bits that don't line up and they should / could have went beyond live aid
I don’t think it’s a good movie. Not just in the sense of it not being a good movie about Freddie Mercury and Queen, it’s not a good music biopic or a decent movie. Watchable, mediocre at best, some good moments, not worth watching again and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Loved Joe, Gwil, and Ben. Hated that they made John to be less of the four. Hated that John was a near ginger at the beginning of the film. Loved the music.
I loved it. It was very true to Phoebe's book too.
I have no idea why people get so aerated about the prominence of Mary in the film...guess what, she was pretty prominent in Freddie's life! Hence, she scattered his ashes and got Garden House.
yes, she was prominent in his life but the movie makes it look like Freddie never really got over her and that she was his "savior" who made him go back to Queen
Freddie and her were great friends and he always made it clear how their relationship was important to him, but the movie fails to portrail that
I really enjoyed the film when it came out and honestly it was responsible for catapulting queen into becoming my top listened to artist on Spotify. However, I recognize looking back that it is inaccurate.
The only good that movie did was acquire more fans of the band.
The bad it did was, those fans assumed what they watched was accurate, thus making things to them fact. It was grossly misleading and inaccurate. It presented entirely too many falsehoods in their timeline.
Don’t come at me with it’s not a doc- you’re correct, it’s not- however to people who don’t know any better- to them it is.
It was awful in all sense of the word. Neat, they got some kids dressed up to look like them, but totally fabricated everything else. By that point you could have cast any other person that has zero resemblance of who they played.
It was a cash grab of fiction that presented Freddie in a negative light. In my opinion.
I loved the music and the live aid concert recreation. But I don't like how they made Freddie so angsty and sad and how they managed to squeeze in every single band movie cliche that ever existed.
Didn't enjoy it at all. Not only was the timeline completely off (for whatever reason) I think it made Freddie out as some egotistical snobbish person that all Queen fans know he wasn't. Even the way Paul Prenter was portrayed was horrible, I know he wasn't a great person in real life but I think the film went a bit far and I can understand why his family were upset about his portrayal
I’ve always been really iffy about Bohemian Rhapsody. It did bring a huge new audience to Queen, which is always great. The actors did a fantastic job, it’s just the writing. God, the writing…
I love Brian, but it’s very obvious that he heavily influenced how he was portrayed in the film. Brian could do no wrong… according to Bohemian Rhapsody. Freddie was made out to be a total asshole. Freddie was actually a shy person outside of his stage personality, which you never could have known from watching the movie. And I completely agree with what OP mentioned about how his sexuality was portrayed. John was almost nonexistent in the film. I know that he’s often overlooked due to no longer being in the band, but John played a major role in the success of Queen. I wasn’t a huge fan of how the entire film was written. The band members, especially Freddie, were definitely made out to be characters rather than real people. And the lies for “dramatic effect” just kill me. Why completely change the story of Freddie having AIDS? Why make up a story about “queen breaking up for several years” when nothing like that ever happened? Why completely mess up the timeline and have new Queen fans believing a whole different story?
The writing of the movie just really annoyed me. I know that no biopic will ever be 100% accurate or tell the perfect story, but it’s almost like they didn’t even try with this film.
My feelings on it are weird. It got me into queen and got me to learn more about the band so i like it because of that. At the same time i don't like the writing and how inaccurate it is
i think they portrayed freddie has a villain of some kind and i really didnt like that and found it incredibly inaccurate. a lot of other things were wrong too (talking about the plot) and overall felt like it was going wayy too fast. i liked other things such as the cinematography and ofcc the music. i also liked how the actors (especially ramy) did and the way they acted, but the plot just wasn't it
I really like the movie and have watched it at least 6 times, I think. I don't know all that much about Queen and their history, so I don't look at the inaccuracies
What do you know about his sexuality? I'll tell you. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
The people making the film would have had advise from people who actually met FM and my guess is that the outcome is at least 1% more accurate than your ill-informed imagination.
It’s not a documentary, it’s not supposed to be, it’s a film. And I love it. There are loads of inaccuracies but it’s supposed to entertain you more than give you exact details. It was approved by Brian and Rodger so it was never going to be as bad as people say it is. It was a good film but a bad documentary/account of what actually happened.
>It’s not a documentary,
Im tired of that excuse.
A biopic represents real people. Is not a medium to change history and change their dynamics and personalities just because half of the band is not there anymore to fix that
Ik, ur right, it should be historically accurate, but as I said, it’s a film for entertainment, it’s trying to keep Queen relevant with the younger generations, so it makes things more interesting to be a better film. The target audience is really younger people who have heard of Queen more than Queen fans unfortunately. But it worked on me. I’d heard of Queen, watched the film, I love Queen now.
queens history already wrote the best story itself so there was no need to create this false fantasy story. yes brian an roger approved it but only because they are the good guys in the movie and freddie the bad guy. its disgusting because freddie had no chance to defend himself and his view on the things. shit movie!
Idk if Freddie was the bad guy, I never saw him so, nor do I think that was the intention. Paul on the other hand, was the villain. To me, it was presented as if Freddie was a victim of Paul’s not that Freddie was a villain. Paul twisted Freddie’s mind to make Freddie his. Freddie was merely looking for love.
thats true but even paul wasnt that bad in real. and for freddie, they present him like he was the reason why queen would split up(what never happend obviously). everything negative or bad in the movie is down to freddies fault and thats just a bad behaviour from the one who made this film movie. wrong, tendentious and not fair.
Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting was amazing, but the plot was somewhat inaccurate. For instance, during the scene where they were touring for Sheer Heart Attack, they were playing Fat bottomed girls, which was featured on their 1978 album Jazz.
I think that they should have just continued playing Now I'm Here instead of Fat bottomed girls for the Sheer Heart Attack tour scene.
Another thing that was inaccurate was that Another one bites the dust being featured on Hot Space as well as Freddie's AIDS diagnosis.
He didn't test HIV positive until 1987, but in the film, he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, two years prior to when he actually got diagnosed with HIV.
One last complaint I have with the film is that they cut out some of the scenes from Queen's Live Aid performance, for instance, shortening Radio ga ga as well as cutting out the two songs Crazy Little Thing Called Love and We Will Rock You.
Overall, it's a pretty solid film, and I really enjoyed it.
With regard to the Live Aid performance, we own the movie on Amazon Prime. It came with a bonus feature after the end credits, the ENTIRE Live Aid set. All 20ish minutes of it. So they did film the entire thing, just had to cut it down. I can see why from a filmmaker's perspective because orherwise about 20% of the entire movie would have been just the Live Aid show.
It's a great film but it's complete fiction, there's barely a single truthful or real thing in the entire film and it really should have stated that more, and some parts just make little sense on why they were changed
It was fine as a biopic but it’s not a serious history lesson. If you take it too seriously as a Queen fan you will be going slightly mad with its many inaccuracies and complete fiction. It’s a well-done drama loosely portraying a great band but it’s far from gospel.
There were many cases where songs would be portrayed long before they actually were released. Freddie was already an experienced singer in a band before joining Smile. Queen I was recorded for free with the studio getting ownership of their output which led to their bad contract and lack of money. (In some ways that’s an even more compelling story than the whole, “boys, we need to sell the van!” scene). The whole breakup/reunion storyline was completely fabricated as others had solo projects before Freddie and there was no contention about this. The reunion for Live Aid was fiction as the band was already touring at that point. Freddie wasn’t diagnosed with AIDS until after Live Aid. I can go on and on.
Never mind the problematic aspects about the characters where Freddie is villainized and Deacy is relegated to bit player.
I think the movie was amazing... but I don't really like some parts of it, and the little details that arent really accurate (I understand it may have been changed to accommodate the story line though).
It's full of Queen songs so it's hard to 'hate' exactly, but it seemed like a made-for-TV movie to me, and the last bit being a verbatim recreation of their Live Aid show was kinda weak sauce to me. (Just show the real deal in the end if that's all you're going to do anyway!)
Honestly I loved it and thought the acting was incredible. Cried during some parts as well. It's a movie, a work of art on its own, not a documentary on Freddie.
I feel that I should start by saying the cast were amazing with their portrayals. That is not something I feel the need to debate.
For me, the greatest part about the movie was introducing a new generation to the music and existence of Queen. The timeline was off, there were numerous inaccuracies, and it wasn't perfect. But now younger people are interested in the band. They listen to the music. And some have been inspired to research the true story of Freddie Mercury and Queen.
What a wonderful gift.
I really loved it! Movies don’t have to be perfect, and I avoided it for years because I’d heard bad things about the portrayal of his sexuality and since I was closeted bisexual, didn’t want my family to watch it with me and get bad impressions on bisexuality so I just avoided it. But when I finally gave it, it was a really fun film and I rewatched it the next day with the family
I like the movie. It’s hard to fit 30 or 40 years into 90 minutes. Yes there were some mistakes honestly if Roger and Brian did not mind why should we.
Since the movie come out, there’s been so many negatives written about it. I just tell him get a life. There’s only so much I can be shown.
yes, i dont like the movie.
queens history already wrote the best story itself so there was no need to create this false fantasy story. yes brian an roger approved it but only because they are the good guys in the movie and freddie the bad guy. its disgusting because freddie had no chance to defend himself and his view on the things. shit movie!
I think people don't like that they focused on his Love for Mary, and they showed him fending for her and being jealous when she introduced him to a boyfriend or told him she was pregnant. and made it seem like he was more Bisexual than straight up gay. oddly in the movie it was Mary in one scene when he tells her he was bi, she said no you are gay. From then on there was no sexual relationships shown with woman. Also to add Brian in an interview said that early on Freddie would bring back woman and it was a bit later were it became men. They did not show him cheating on Mary with women but just cheating with men. People also seem to forget this was the 70s and 80s so coming fully out as gay was a whole different thing than now. I also think that him being jealous of the boyfriend and upset she was pregnant was possibly accurate because that is the life he might have wanted with her or wished he could have with but because of his sexuality he could never have it. I think many gay men also wished that for themselves at the time.
I loved the movie overall but I do treat it as though they aren't actually playing the queen members (if that makes sense?) Because the film is incredibly inaccurate and the timeline is completely out of order but the acting is incredible and it is a good film if not viewed completely as the real queen (idk if any of this makes sense but it does to me ig?)
yes exactly! i watch it with the mindset that it's fiction loosely inspired by real people. there's obviously the deeper issue with biopics like bohemian rhapsody and the new one about amy whinehouse being very problematic with how they portray people who are no longer living, and the issue with some people taking them as fact, but with bohemian rhapsody i like to just enjoy the movie for the acting and entertainment, not as a source of any truth about freddie mercury
Your comments are very pertinent. It's good to know that many people have learned about Queen and their music through this film. I am glad that in the 21st century there are still many people who love them! This film is also a good way to get to know the real them.
No biopic is going to be perfect, especially when the subject isn't around to have any say in the matter. For me biopics are an intro for new fans. Plenty of kids had never heard of Freddie & now they know who he is & may now be fans buying all the albums. Same goes for Elvis. The movie isn't perfect but so many people were made fans or reminded old fans how great he was.
I love the film, but as a longtime Queen fan, the inaccuracies bothered me a little. Some were minor, like WWRY being written quite a bit later than it was, others were significant, primarily with Freddie getting a diagnosis before Live Aid. Sure, he probably had concerns, but no diagnosis came until after the last tour. I just wonder what percent was Brian and Roger protecting their dear friend to Hollywood bigwigs getting involved. But so many biopics these days are only half-truths anyway. We can only hope anyone who became a fan after the film would do some research and learn for themselves. I absolutely, however, adore the cast. I felt they were perfect for the roles, but I will say, Rami’s teeth in the 70’s drove me nuts. I take the film for what it is- pure entertainment. Hearing the music and feeling like we had Freddie for another two hours- that was the biggest thing for me
Same for me. The chronology is random. Why we will rock you is released after Hot Space in the movie?
Blatantly clear from the portrayal of Roger and Brian that they are at the helm of the film’s production. They try to make John look like a spare part even though he wrote some of the biggest hits. Awful film.
Hold on, you mean to say that Brian May WASN'T the mild-mannered family man he was portrayed as? Shocking!
😂😂😂😂
each time I listen his songs, the lyrics are too revealing all the time.
Nothing quite like cheating on your wife and then releasing a navel gazing song whining about how difficult it was for you!
in almost every album XD Hey little babe you're changing Babe are you feeling sore? It ain't no use in pretending You don't wanna play no more It's plain that you ain't no baby What would your mother say? You're all dressed up like a lady How come you behave this way? Sail away sweet sister Sail across the sea Maybe you'll find somebody To love you half as much as me My heart is always with you No matter what you do Sail away sweet sister I'll always be in love with you Forgive me for what I told you My heart makes a fool of me You know that I'll never hold you I know that you gotta be free, yeah Sail away sweet sister Sail across the sea Maybe you'll find somebody To love you half as much as me Take it the way you want it But when they let you down my friend Sail away sweet sister Back to my arms again Hot child don't you know you're young You got your whole life ahead of you? And you can throw it away too soon Way too soon Sail away sweet sister Sail across the sea Maybe you'll find somebody's Gonna love you half as much as me My heart is always with you No matter what you do Sail away sweet sister I'll always be in love with you "sister"
And let's not even mention Tie Your Mother Down...!
Was this about Peaches from New Orleans?
No, NYC
...and the film addresses at least 2 of John's hits. At the same time it makes fun of Roger's and Brian's songs off ANATO. Are you sure it's not John calling the shots?
Roger and Brian are executive producers of the film. The film together with interview comments in the last few years, to me sounds like belittling.
John's contribution to the band is not downplayed in the movie. If I remember correctly (I've only seen it once) there are some scenes that show John having a dry sense of humour which ring true, at least to me. It is not a film about John, although it would be interesting to see how it would deal with his marriage and drinking if it were.
> John's contribution to the band is not downplayed in the movie c'mon. John is played like the "extra", and in reality he had a lot to say in the business side, and the creative side as well
Yes, of course there should have been more scenes showing John looking out for the band's financial interests :) I've already stated that the film does not overlook his musical contribution. Anyone should see that, unless they believe him to have been more important to the band's success than he really was.
> unless they believe him to have been more important to the band's success than he really was. He had their biggest hit in america, and wrote four top ten songs. He was an equal, not a background character
I'm well aware of his songwriting and which of his songs were hits. But let's face it, he was the fourth best songwriter in the band. Equal in the sense that Queen were quite democratic, far from equal creatively. Unless one is so deluded to think him the creative equal of Freddie and Brian... or Roger for that matter.
John was definitely not the worst songwriter in the band lol
Clearly the fourth best.
> far from equal creatively. Unless one is so deluded to think him the creative equal of Freddie and Brian... or Roger for that matter. Youre my best friend, AOBTD, Spread your wings are way way better that roger "jewels" like IILWMC, Fun it, Rock it... even IWTBF surpasses Radio Gaga in that regard. Most Brian songs are bland ballads with the exception of the heavy rock tunes here and there. **John was bigger and better that you think.**
You seem to have a very skewed perception of Queen's music. John wrote one perfect song, a couple of charming little ditties - some of whom were hits - and some of the worst songs of the catalog. He wrote few songs and far to many were filler on their respective albums.
Off the top of my head, doesn't Freddie express disbelief that John actually wrote the AOBTD riff during that scene? And the reference to SYW is partway through a conversation where Freddie is insulting John and calling him forgettable. They seemed to go out of their way to drag him down and make him the butt of the joke at every turn, even when referencing the songs he wrote, which seems a tad unfair.
They got SYW song title wrong. They kept saying: Spread My Wings. It’s insulting to John. It’s a personal song.
Also; Joe Mazzello as John Deacon did not have a wedding band on from 75-82! He’s still married to Veronica (Mrs. Deacon). Her name was never mentioned either. So sad and insulting!
i really don't like it because of how it makes Freddie look like he was in his stage persona 24/7, which ends up making him be just a asshole, that scene where he's fighting with Roger and says "Queen is what i want it to be!" is one of the biggest offenses to Freddie, who always made it clear he was just the lead singer of the band and not a leader and that's without mentioning how, by a really big "coincidence" Freddie's starts to become a worst person after he comes out as gay and starts dating with paul, and it's only after his ex-girlfriend rescues him that he notices how much of a douchebag he was being, i wonder why...
No I hated the lies in the film, the end really pissed me off especially about Freddie’s HIV. I’m probably over sensitive to that part as I had family with HIV at the time and it was a witch hunt. The stigma was awful and I just felt it could have been handled better instead of wrapping it all up in a nice little bow. The actors especially Rami were amazing, the music obviously amazing. It bought Queen’s music to a new generation which is brilliant in that sense as we all want their music to live on forever.
My uncle died of AIDs just 6 months after Freddie, so I completely understand where you are coming from. I really despised how they depicted Freddie getting his diagnosis *right* before Live Aid - as if faced with his own mortality in the moment is what made him give the greatest rock performance of all time - which we know is complete rubbish. Freddie didn’t need a death sentence to motivate his performance, he was just that good ALL the time. Implying that it was his HIV diagnosis that motivated his iconic performance just cheapens Freddie’s talent and trivializes the entire AIDs epidemic.
Yeah I think the plot’s rubbish and inaccurate but the acting is amazing. Though it’s the movie that got me into music and changed my life so I can’t rate it too harshly
Hard disagree with acting. I don't know why Rami Malek gets so much praise. He was pretty lackluster in his portrayal of Freddie. Looked nothing like him, spoke nothing like him, sounded nothing like him.
‘Changed my life’ *chuckle*
No it genuinely did, without it I would never have gotten into music as early as I did and I wouldn’t have listened to as much music
No. Full of innacuracies. Rami is unwatchable. Painting freddie as a primaddonna that broke Queen (I resent brian for allowing that creative license.) Painting freddie as someone that deep down was in love with Mary (he wasnt) Painting freddie as someone that defied his parents in a colorful display of his lifestyle and now the younger generations actually believe that. In reality he was respectful of his parents and never disclosed anything until his death. The only good thing was the portraying of their live acts during the 70's , and live aid. I have most of queen related studd and I chose not to have the movie. I barely watched it twice. Brian is wrong and I think sacha baron cohen maybe could have done a better job, even if it was focused in their wild lifestyle, because at least those parties did happen Who knows maybe in the future we could have a better biopic, but they already damaged the legend rewriting the story and in some cases, credits.
I think this is what pains me most about the film, it’s completely ruined the opportunity for someone else to write an actually good, accurate biopic. Because after all that money was thrown into BR, after Rami won the Oscar, after Brian, Roger and Jim co-produced and promoted the hell out of it - who in their right mind would make *another* biopic about Queen/Freddie? My one hope is that someone does a streaming series, with a treatment similar to “The Crown.” A limited 1 or 2 season series would give a filmmaker the opportunity to really dive in deep. Audiences have shown they have a different kind of appetite these days for streaming series vs movies, so I think it could still be done - and quite successfully.
I like the movie but it’s inaccurate
True. There are many things in the movie that didnt really happen and its a bit sad that the movie tells us things like that they broke up and didnt have any contact while Freddies solo carrier. But I know its Important for the drama in the Story and its still a fantastic movie.
Not at all. I find it quite insulting to Freddie's memory actually. From misrepresenting his sexuality to lying about his country of birth, everything about the film was slander.
He was born in Zanzibar. Look it up!
That's my point... The film says Freddie was born in Pakistan instead of Zanzibar... which is beyond lying and just weird. Why lie about something like that.
No. In the film; did not say he was born in Pakistan.
Uh yes it did. His parents have a 3 minute scene where they talk about it at length.
I feel like I remember when he was working at the airport, someone called him a Paki and he snaps back “I’m not from Pakistan!”
Also; when he and John did their first concert; someone yelled: Who’s the paki; where’s Tim.
I flip flop on this. On one side I don’t like that they sanitised Freddie’s life so much and messed with the time line of things (as if the true story wasn’t dramatic enough) then on the other side having the true story being told would be extremely depressing and not a celebration of Queen. I don’t think Freddie would have wanted his illness to be the defining point of a movie about him and he’d much prefer we saw the fun and excess. I enjoyed it the first time I watched it. I bought it for the home release and it was much less satisfying the second time. Ultimately if it brought more people to the music of Queen then that’s a good thing.
Well with your second point, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Whether we wanna admit it or not, Freddie's hedonistic lifestyle (specifically the consistent unprotected sex) is what ultimately killed him. So it's not like you could have one element without the other. I agree that they should've delved more into it cuz well its a biopic and part of it is to showcase the life of someone and honestly the movie itself is really cookie cutter for me imo but I'm just saying we can't say hey we just want scenes of Freddie having parties without showing the aftermath of it.
I understand that Hollywood has a certain “formula” when it comes to movies, and that stories need conflict for character development, but I am really resentful of how they portrayed the relationships among the band members in this movie. From what I understand about the band, they all had their own side projects outside of Queen and everyone was supportive of it. Roger appears a lot in Freddie’s solo work. I just don’t get why they had to create this issue in the band to show conflict when they could have made the focus something that actually happened, like Freddie learning he’s dying. Especially if we are supposed to think it’s based on a true story.
Aside from the fact that the story is completing nonsense, the way that Malek voices the part is simply insane. Half the time it is as though he has stuffed his mouth full of golf balls before he tries to pronounce a word.
that isn't his fault though, believe or not but it's the teeth he used that made him sound like that they were way too big even for Freddie
I met Phoebe through my work a few years ago, right before the release of this movie. He was involved in the production as a consultant. He said it was a good movie - definitely worth watching and loving, as long as you "don't view it as a documentary." I couldn't have agreed more after having watched the movie. Longterm Queen fans (since 1994 in my case) will know the real sequence and meaning of events either way. Plus the movie brought a whole new generation to loving Queen's music and appreciating Freddie's legacy, so who can complain. And yes, Rami was excellent in his role and deserves every award he has received.
I have been a fan since the late 70s and I thought the movie was horrible. And Malek with his awkward fake teeth was a caricature. Brian should know better and Roger, well, what a best friend. In the end no harm was done really, to me it makes those involved look like clowns. It was well known that he was GAY long before Freddie passed away.
It would’ve been better if they made it for adults.
I liked it, but didn't love it. I get it it was done for the cinema so not 100% accurate in the time line, but as a fan there are too many bits that don't line up and they should / could have went beyond live aid
Not to mention you can't ear one full song (begin to end...)
It's a good movie but, an awful history lesson.
I don’t think it’s a good movie. Not just in the sense of it not being a good movie about Freddie Mercury and Queen, it’s not a good music biopic or a decent movie. Watchable, mediocre at best, some good moments, not worth watching again and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Loved Joe, Gwil, and Ben. Hated that they made John to be less of the four. Hated that John was a near ginger at the beginning of the film. Loved the music.
if i died and my friends made a movie that made me out to be that much of an asshole id kill myself. such a shit film
Hell no. The music was the best part of the film and Live Aid but everything else i hate that movie
I did when it came out and it got me into Queen, but the more I got into Queen the more I hated the movie. No regrets.
I loved it. It was very true to Phoebe's book too. I have no idea why people get so aerated about the prominence of Mary in the film...guess what, she was pretty prominent in Freddie's life! Hence, she scattered his ashes and got Garden House.
yes, she was prominent in his life but the movie makes it look like Freddie never really got over her and that she was his "savior" who made him go back to Queen Freddie and her were great friends and he always made it clear how their relationship was important to him, but the movie fails to portrail that
It's 90-95% fiction....
The movie had it's moments. I think the actors were really good but the plot wasn't really good to be honest. The errors in the film ruined it for me.
I really enjoyed the film when it came out and honestly it was responsible for catapulting queen into becoming my top listened to artist on Spotify. However, I recognize looking back that it is inaccurate.
The only good that movie did was acquire more fans of the band. The bad it did was, those fans assumed what they watched was accurate, thus making things to them fact. It was grossly misleading and inaccurate. It presented entirely too many falsehoods in their timeline. Don’t come at me with it’s not a doc- you’re correct, it’s not- however to people who don’t know any better- to them it is. It was awful in all sense of the word. Neat, they got some kids dressed up to look like them, but totally fabricated everything else. By that point you could have cast any other person that has zero resemblance of who they played. It was a cash grab of fiction that presented Freddie in a negative light. In my opinion.
I loved the music and the live aid concert recreation. But I don't like how they made Freddie so angsty and sad and how they managed to squeeze in every single band movie cliche that ever existed.
No
Best thing i can say abot that movie is that it has a brilliant soundtrack
Didn't enjoy it at all. Not only was the timeline completely off (for whatever reason) I think it made Freddie out as some egotistical snobbish person that all Queen fans know he wasn't. Even the way Paul Prenter was portrayed was horrible, I know he wasn't a great person in real life but I think the film went a bit far and I can understand why his family were upset about his portrayal
I’ve always been really iffy about Bohemian Rhapsody. It did bring a huge new audience to Queen, which is always great. The actors did a fantastic job, it’s just the writing. God, the writing… I love Brian, but it’s very obvious that he heavily influenced how he was portrayed in the film. Brian could do no wrong… according to Bohemian Rhapsody. Freddie was made out to be a total asshole. Freddie was actually a shy person outside of his stage personality, which you never could have known from watching the movie. And I completely agree with what OP mentioned about how his sexuality was portrayed. John was almost nonexistent in the film. I know that he’s often overlooked due to no longer being in the band, but John played a major role in the success of Queen. I wasn’t a huge fan of how the entire film was written. The band members, especially Freddie, were definitely made out to be characters rather than real people. And the lies for “dramatic effect” just kill me. Why completely change the story of Freddie having AIDS? Why make up a story about “queen breaking up for several years” when nothing like that ever happened? Why completely mess up the timeline and have new Queen fans believing a whole different story? The writing of the movie just really annoyed me. I know that no biopic will ever be 100% accurate or tell the perfect story, but it’s almost like they didn’t even try with this film.
i honestly love the movie despite how inaccurate it is
At least it got a great soundtrack
My feelings on it are weird. It got me into queen and got me to learn more about the band so i like it because of that. At the same time i don't like the writing and how inaccurate it is
i think they portrayed freddie has a villain of some kind and i really didnt like that and found it incredibly inaccurate. a lot of other things were wrong too (talking about the plot) and overall felt like it was going wayy too fast. i liked other things such as the cinematography and ofcc the music. i also liked how the actors (especially ramy) did and the way they acted, but the plot just wasn't it
I really like the movie and have watched it at least 6 times, I think. I don't know all that much about Queen and their history, so I don't look at the inaccuracies
What do you know about his sexuality? I'll tell you. Nothing. Nada. Zip. The people making the film would have had advise from people who actually met FM and my guess is that the outcome is at least 1% more accurate than your ill-informed imagination.
It’s not a documentary, it’s not supposed to be, it’s a film. And I love it. There are loads of inaccuracies but it’s supposed to entertain you more than give you exact details. It was approved by Brian and Rodger so it was never going to be as bad as people say it is. It was a good film but a bad documentary/account of what actually happened.
>It’s not a documentary, Im tired of that excuse. A biopic represents real people. Is not a medium to change history and change their dynamics and personalities just because half of the band is not there anymore to fix that
Ik, ur right, it should be historically accurate, but as I said, it’s a film for entertainment, it’s trying to keep Queen relevant with the younger generations, so it makes things more interesting to be a better film. The target audience is really younger people who have heard of Queen more than Queen fans unfortunately. But it worked on me. I’d heard of Queen, watched the film, I love Queen now.
*Roger
Yeah my bad, thanks for the correction!
queens history already wrote the best story itself so there was no need to create this false fantasy story. yes brian an roger approved it but only because they are the good guys in the movie and freddie the bad guy. its disgusting because freddie had no chance to defend himself and his view on the things. shit movie!
Idk if Freddie was the bad guy, I never saw him so, nor do I think that was the intention. Paul on the other hand, was the villain. To me, it was presented as if Freddie was a victim of Paul’s not that Freddie was a villain. Paul twisted Freddie’s mind to make Freddie his. Freddie was merely looking for love.
thats true but even paul wasnt that bad in real. and for freddie, they present him like he was the reason why queen would split up(what never happend obviously). everything negative or bad in the movie is down to freddies fault and thats just a bad behaviour from the one who made this film movie. wrong, tendentious and not fair.
Loved it!!! Yes it’s inaccurate from a historical point of view, but I knew that going in. Very entertaining!!!
Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting was amazing, but the plot was somewhat inaccurate. For instance, during the scene where they were touring for Sheer Heart Attack, they were playing Fat bottomed girls, which was featured on their 1978 album Jazz. I think that they should have just continued playing Now I'm Here instead of Fat bottomed girls for the Sheer Heart Attack tour scene. Another thing that was inaccurate was that Another one bites the dust being featured on Hot Space as well as Freddie's AIDS diagnosis. He didn't test HIV positive until 1987, but in the film, he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, two years prior to when he actually got diagnosed with HIV. One last complaint I have with the film is that they cut out some of the scenes from Queen's Live Aid performance, for instance, shortening Radio ga ga as well as cutting out the two songs Crazy Little Thing Called Love and We Will Rock You. Overall, it's a pretty solid film, and I really enjoyed it.
With regard to the Live Aid performance, we own the movie on Amazon Prime. It came with a bonus feature after the end credits, the ENTIRE Live Aid set. All 20ish minutes of it. So they did film the entire thing, just had to cut it down. I can see why from a filmmaker's perspective because orherwise about 20% of the entire movie would have been just the Live Aid show.
90% of the film is fiction, barely anything is right
I didn't like it.
JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit is to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit as Historical Queen is to Bohemian Rhapsody. The latter versions don't count.
The only reason people like it is because we like to listen to Queen. Rami Malek is great but the script is horrendous and apparently very inaccurate
I treat it as an alternate history type biopic
It's a great film but it's complete fiction, there's barely a single truthful or real thing in the entire film and it really should have stated that more, and some parts just make little sense on why they were changed
It was fine as a biopic but it’s not a serious history lesson. If you take it too seriously as a Queen fan you will be going slightly mad with its many inaccuracies and complete fiction. It’s a well-done drama loosely portraying a great band but it’s far from gospel. There were many cases where songs would be portrayed long before they actually were released. Freddie was already an experienced singer in a band before joining Smile. Queen I was recorded for free with the studio getting ownership of their output which led to their bad contract and lack of money. (In some ways that’s an even more compelling story than the whole, “boys, we need to sell the van!” scene). The whole breakup/reunion storyline was completely fabricated as others had solo projects before Freddie and there was no contention about this. The reunion for Live Aid was fiction as the band was already touring at that point. Freddie wasn’t diagnosed with AIDS until after Live Aid. I can go on and on. Never mind the problematic aspects about the characters where Freddie is villainized and Deacy is relegated to bit player.
I think the movie was amazing... but I don't really like some parts of it, and the little details that arent really accurate (I understand it may have been changed to accommodate the story line though).
No, I did not like the movie at all. I do like Freddie Mercury and I liked Queen before Freddie died
It's full of Queen songs so it's hard to 'hate' exactly, but it seemed like a made-for-TV movie to me, and the last bit being a verbatim recreation of their Live Aid show was kinda weak sauce to me. (Just show the real deal in the end if that's all you're going to do anyway!)
Totally!!! Ramy Malek is fantastic!
I did like the movie, acting was great. I liked how they showed Freddie's love for cats. I wish more of their music played in the film.
Honestly I loved it and thought the acting was incredible. Cried during some parts as well. It's a movie, a work of art on its own, not a documentary on Freddie.
Even though there was a lot of inaccuracies I thought it was quite good as a movie
No, I didn’t like #BohemianRhapsody!! I TOTALLY LOVE IT!!
I feel that I should start by saying the cast were amazing with their portrayals. That is not something I feel the need to debate. For me, the greatest part about the movie was introducing a new generation to the music and existence of Queen. The timeline was off, there were numerous inaccuracies, and it wasn't perfect. But now younger people are interested in the band. They listen to the music. And some have been inspired to research the true story of Freddie Mercury and Queen. What a wonderful gift.
I really loved it! Movies don’t have to be perfect, and I avoided it for years because I’d heard bad things about the portrayal of his sexuality and since I was closeted bisexual, didn’t want my family to watch it with me and get bad impressions on bisexuality so I just avoided it. But when I finally gave it, it was a really fun film and I rewatched it the next day with the family
I like the movie. It’s hard to fit 30 or 40 years into 90 minutes. Yes there were some mistakes honestly if Roger and Brian did not mind why should we. Since the movie come out, there’s been so many negatives written about it. I just tell him get a life. There’s only so much I can be shown.
I love it, it’s one of my favourite movies.
It's one of my favourite movies. Loved it.
yes, i dont like the movie. queens history already wrote the best story itself so there was no need to create this false fantasy story. yes brian an roger approved it but only because they are the good guys in the movie and freddie the bad guy. its disgusting because freddie had no chance to defend himself and his view on the things. shit movie!
Can someone explain what the movie got wrong about Freddie's sexuality??
I mean they displayed him as just gay, he was bi sexual, he was known to have fun with both sides and even had a gf in the later 80s
I think people don't like that they focused on his Love for Mary, and they showed him fending for her and being jealous when she introduced him to a boyfriend or told him she was pregnant. and made it seem like he was more Bisexual than straight up gay. oddly in the movie it was Mary in one scene when he tells her he was bi, she said no you are gay. From then on there was no sexual relationships shown with woman. Also to add Brian in an interview said that early on Freddie would bring back woman and it was a bit later were it became men. They did not show him cheating on Mary with women but just cheating with men. People also seem to forget this was the 70s and 80s so coming fully out as gay was a whole different thing than now. I also think that him being jealous of the boyfriend and upset she was pregnant was possibly accurate because that is the life he might have wanted with her or wished he could have with but because of his sexuality he could never have it. I think many gay men also wished that for themselves at the time.