Love Queen. Many, many terrific, iconic songs. One of the best bands of all time. Problems with this movie resulting in 5 star rating:
1. Rami Malek's (Freddie) teeth and wig. When Freddie is on screen, which is almost every shot, I cannot take my eyes off his mouth/teeth and his wig (in the first half of the film). A lot has been written about the meticulous attention and remarkable teeth prosthetic for Malek. I'm not seeing it. Thought it was way overboard. Cartoonish. Watch a real Freddie Mercury interview. He did have protruding buck teeth. Not like portrayed in the movie. Not close. The wigs? Absurd.
2 The opening scenes over the credits, I think, are supposed to showcase how much Rami is able to imitate Mercury's walk/strut. And, by extension, you'll see how much Rami has become Freddie. No. Again, not feeling it. At no point in the movie did I think I'm watching Freddie Mercury, not an actor.
3. Every scene with Freddie's parents was embarrassing in its stressing of their ethnicity. Not believable. In fact, insultingly stereotypical.
4. Finally, the closing scene, last 15 minutes or so of the film. The music portion was spot on, perfect, remarkable, super moving. However, the cutaways to the side of the stage where Freddie's friends were goofily watching brought you back to the fact this is a movie. And these are actors. Ruined the realistic effect.
1. Rami Malek's (Freddie) teeth and wig. When Freddie is on screen, which is almost every shot, I cannot take my eyes off his mouth/teeth and his wig (in the first half of the film). A lot has been written about the meticulous attention and remarkable teeth prosthetic for Malek. I'm not seeing it. Thought it was way overboard. Cartoonish. Watch a real Freddie Mercury interview. He did have protruding buck teeth. Not like portrayed in the movie. Not close. The wigs? Absurd.
2 The opening scenes over the credits, I think, are supposed to showcase how much Rami is able to imitate Mercury's walk/strut. And, by extension, you'll see how much Rami has become Freddie. No. Again, not feeling it. At no point in the movie did I think I'm watching Freddie Mercury, not an actor.
3. Every scene with Freddie's parents was embarrassing in its stressing of their ethnicity. Not believable. In fact, insultingly stereotypical.
4. Finally, the closing scene, last 15 minutes or so of the film. The music portion was spot on, perfect, remarkable, super moving. However, the cutaways to the side of the stage where Freddie's friends were goofily watching brought you back to the fact this is a movie. And these are actors. Ruined the realistic effect.