Queen play kings again

It had a troubled production, but Freddie Mercury biopic delivers in style

SUMMER, 1985. The day of Live Aid. In a palatial London home a star rises, pads his way along a corridor full of cats and dresses in jeans, white vest, studded belt and trainers. Arriving at his destination, he jumps like a ballet dancer and stretches like a boxer, ready for the fray. Up, up, up he goes to the stage, appearing before countless thousands and millions watching on TV. Queen, the band, are kings again.

With directors, actors and writers coming and going, the making of Bohemian Rhapsody might have been an eight-year hot and cold running mess at times, but the opening scenes of this biopic of Freddie Mercury are smooth as the silk in his dressing gown. Not that the rest of the film is cut from quite the same quality of cloth.

Here and there Bryan Singer’s drama can be cringe-inducingly cheesy. Strangely enough, however, that is precisely what makes it so enjoyable. That, and the songs. Wow: the songs.

From Live Aid, Singer (who took over from the original director, Dexter Fletcher, only for Fletcher to return when Singer left) rewinds back to 1970. Farrokh Bulsara, the man who would be Freddie, is working as a baggage handler at Heathrow. May and Roger Taylor are pub rockers in need of a singer. “What about me?” asks Bulsara. “Not with those teeth, mate,” says Taylor. Thus the toothy elephant in the room is addressed, with Bulsara explaining that he was born with four extra incisors but it brings its own advantages. “More space in my mouth means more range.”

The early years are lovingly captured, then the rise to stardom and superstardom. Faces come and go, including John Reid, Glaswegian super-manager (played by Aiden Gillan, who sounds about as Weegie as Bob Geldof). One constant was Mercury’s friend Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton). The film focuses heavily on their relationship but it also nods, in a 12A way, to Mercury’s life as a gay man.

American actor Rami Malek (best known for TV’s Mr Robot) took on the Freddie role after Sacha Baron Cohen