BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Cert Running time

Musicals have ruled cinema this year, and this supersonic biopic of Freddie Mercury allows rock band Queen to claim their rightful crown as the champions of the box office. Sympathetic, moving, funny and filled with some of the greatest rock anthems ever recorded, we see Freddie’s rise from airport luggage handler to global superstar.

As the band’s outrageous and supremely gifted vocalist, he wants to break free of his traditional family in order to define his flamboyant outward persona, but then he struggles to inwardly accept himself.

Though the film steers away from showing anything graphic, Freddie’s rockstar party life leads to him being diagnosed with AIDS, the disease which would kill him at the age of 45.

And 1985’s famous Wembley charity gig, Live Aid, becomes a redemptive, climactic celebration of Freddie’s incredible power as a stage performer.

Rami Malek is tremendous as the lead, and who cares if the American-Egyptian doesn’t particularly look like the Parsi Indian Brit, he absolutely captures the essence of the flamboyant crowd-pleasing frontman.

With the actors miming to the band’s actual recordings, Queen’s chart-topping and lengthy back catalogue supercharges the script, which rockets through their bestselling greatest hits album.

The majestic title track is the first song I can remember hearing that wasn’t a church hymn, and the scenes of its chaotic recording imbue the song with layers of meaning.

It’s a kind of magic this film is as great as it is after original director, Bryan Singer, was sacked with two weeks of filming to go. For the sake of brevity some dialogue is direct, but it’s not afraid to ask important questions, such as ‘how many Galileos do we need?’.

For once don’t worry about the size of the cinema screen, see this at the venue with the biggest sound system. It will rock you.