After a long and troublesome production, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody finally released earlier this month and while it was hardly a bad movie, the general consensus seemed to be that it was basically alright, with most people agreeing that it did its job of telling the story of Queen but didn’t really dive too deep beneath the surface – especially when it came to Freddie Mercury himself.
With a PG-13 rating and an agreeable runtime to keep in mind, there was obviously only so much the filmmakers could do. Especially since Bohemian Rhapsody was more a movie about Queen the band and not just Freddie’s life. But when asked how he felt about some of the criticism being lobbied against the pic, star Rami Malek admitted that there were a few parts of Mercury’s life that weren’t fully explored.
“There is definitely a story there that we could have delved even deeper in to,” he said. “I don’t think it was glossed over though. I think there’s some poignant moments.”
While it’s not anything out of the ordinary to hear an actor say he wishes his character was explored a bit deeper, Malek’s right when he notes that there’s a story there that wasn’t properly told. Nothing against the other members of Queen, but if we’re being honest, Mercury was the most interesting one and it would’ve been nice if Bohemian Rhapsody was bold or smart enough to really understand what made him tick and wasn’t afraid to show some of the more wild parts of his life.
Still, no one can say that it’s an unenjoyable or poorly made movie. I mean, just hearing those awesome songs played through a theatre’s impressive sound system and that absolutely brilliant Live Aid sequence are probably worth the price of admission alone, don’t you think?