The first reviews of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the biopic about Freddie Mercury and his legendary group, is about to come to screens but it seems that the film, directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher, has not managed to charm the North American press. Only 5 critics of 18 on Metacritic praised the film, and it has only achieved 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. In general, the media is praising the powerful interpretation of Rami Malek, but it has been described as a film which is too conventional and evasive to have done it justice.
IndieWire has been one of the most critical media outlets of the film, making it clear that as well as it's extensive running time, the biggest failure was the facade of Hollywood glamour with which the band was presented. "The critical failure of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is that, 134 minutes after the lights go down, the members of Queen just seem like four blokes who've been processed through the rusty machinery of a Hollywood biopic. By the time the film is over, these singular rock gods might as well be anyone; not because they've been humanized, but rather because of the profound extent to which they haven't been."
The Guardian's review focused on the idealised way in which the band's story is told, at the expense of actually telling the story of the band's lead singer, saying, "'Bohemian Rhapsody' honours Mercury the showman but never really gets to Mercury the person." This observation was made by other critics, such as Variety, who also said that that film, "despite its electrifying subject, is a conventional, middle-of-the-road, cut-and-dried, play-it-safe, rather fuddy-duddy old-school biopic", it goes on to claim that it "skitters through events instead of sinking into them".
IGN emphasised the fact that the film was entertaining and the soundtrack could be enjoyed by all fans of Queen, however, they highlighted the too-comfortable nature of the story: "Bohemian Rhapsody is fun but entirely superficial, playing it safe rather than trying to be as bold or brazen as its larger-than-life subject".
It's Not All Bad News
Not everyone has shown such harsh criticism of the film. The Hollywood Reporter hightailed that the failures of the film could not stop the film from being utterly electrifying: "even though they don't entirely avoid the clunky factoid-itis that often plagues the genre, this is a biopic that favors sensory experience over exposition. It understands what pure, electrifying fun rock 'n' roll can be".
It is likely that this tepid welcome from the press will not affect the the excellent box office stats which the film is expected to achieve. Now it is the public's turn to have their say about what is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated films of the year.
'Bohemian Rhapsody' will be released in cinemas on October 24th.
