Stylish biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has made a strong showing on its first opening weekend in the US of $50 million, making it the second biggest box office opening of all time for a film of that nature. First place went to Straight Outta Compton, which took $60.2 million on its opening weekend.
And, despite negative and often unduly harsh critical reviews, the film has achieved great commercial success, and looks to only get more and more love and attention from audience goers. Sadly, the film has gained just a meagre score of 59% on review website Rotten Tomatoes. Critics purport it is long on style and short on substance, in some instances, casting an over-analytical eye and being unnecessarily condemning.
However, another exciting piece of news from the film is that the cast had filmed a full recreation of Queen’s Live Aid performance and it could be released very soon to the delight of many. (see our article yesterday about that here).
Rami Malek’s portrayal of the legend that is Freddie Mercury, included the filming of the entire historical performance of Queen at the concert, and most of it making the final edit. Malek stated that, “That’s when we felt at our best. You need to go from one song to the next to have that same adrenaline rush that they had. We had an audience of Queen fans out there recreating that iconic concert and it’s an adrenaline rush like you could never imagine.”
Whatever your preference on musical style, I dare you to try and watch the film, and not be swayed by several emotive components: Malek’s occupation and embodiment of Mercury, the brilliance and commitment of Mercury to his vision and belief in his place on the stage, and the meticulous, technical attention to detail to tell the magnificent story of Queen and their rise to iconic status.
- Latitude 2024 – Festival Review - August 5, 2024
- Haircut 100, Cambridge Corn Exchange – Gig Review - November 14, 2023
- Cambridge Folk Festival 2023 – Gig Review - August 4, 2023