Fitting for Freddie but not True to the story

I am a massive Queen and I grew up listening to them thanks to my Dad. So it only seemed fitting that I saw this with my parents. This gave me a nice chance to discuss it with them and get their opinion.

I had high hopes because to take such an iconic person such as Freddie Mercury makes it difficult to stand up to the hype. When I saw this was only a 12A film I was confused as his flamboyant lifestyle definitely wasn’t 12A material in my opinion.

One thing I really liked in the film was the use of light and colour pallets.

There is a stark contrast in the two sides of Freddie. The stage Freddie and the real Freddie. The bright flamboyant tones of Freddie on stage use cold bright lighting whereas the real Freddie is in warmer tones and muted colours. To me this symbolises Freddie really well and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

The biggest issue I have from this film is the liberties they have taken with the timeline. I understand that they want to use all the classic songs but some of the mistakes are massive.

• Fat Bottomed Girls is played during Queens first US Tour in 1974 but was not released until 1978.
• We Will Rock You is shown being recorded in 1980 but it was on News Of The World album that was recorded in 1977.
• Another One Bites the Dust is seen as being a part of the disco experiment from 1982 but it was released in 1980.

I am sorry, but I am a traditionalist and these things really takes me out of the movie. My Dad had exactly the same feelings and was checking on Google to make sure he was right. (Not just Old age and all that!)

The cast though were fantastic and I couldn’t have hoped for anyone else to play Freddie like Rami Malek. The mannerisms were perfect and on point.

 

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury       Gwilym Lee as Brian May        Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor    Joe Mazzello as John Deacon

But I can’t give it full marks. As much as I enjoyed it and it gave been Goosebumps just like Queens music does, I cannot forgive the timeline mistakes.

4/5

Director:  Bryan Singer

Cast: Rami Khan, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander and Mike Myers.

Crew: John Ottoman (Editor)

Genre: Biographic Drama

Rating: 12A