Review #1,445: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody started out life way back in 2010, with Sacha Baron Cohen set to star as Queen's hypnotic frontman Freddie Mercury. With band members Brian May and Roger Taylor heavily involved in the development, Baron Cohen eventually left, citing creative differences with the way they wished to approach the story as the main reason for his departure. The years went by, and in 2017, the wheels were well and truly in motion with Bryan Singer in the director's chair and Rami Malek in the lead role. The production was famously dogged with problems, and when Singer was eventually fired for unprofessional behaviour (reports say he was frequently disruptive on set, even failing to turn up for three days straight), it felt like the film would never see the light of day. But Dexter Fletcher filled the vacant director's chair and Bohemian Rhapsody was released to huge box-office numbers, and recently received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, amongst others.

Remarkably, despite the film's difficult production, there's no sign of patchwork or a clash of directorial styles. Bohemian Rhapsody actually has much greater problems, and while anybody looking for an easily-digestible Queen sing-a-long with find much to love here, anybody hoping for a deeper re-telling of one of the music's most enigmatic figures with likely be baffled at the film's eagerness to share the credit and Wikipedia-entry approach to story-telling. We briefly get to see Mercury before he took to the stage, working as a baggage-handler at Heathrow while his parents worry about his lack of academic ambition. His experience as a young immigrant is summarised by a single racial slur, and the film isn't too concerned with exploring this any further. Perhaps screenwriter Anthony McCarten (who wrote last year's similarly formulaic Oscar-baiter Darkest Hour) felt like this would be too much of a drag for the audience, so he quickly moves to Mercury introducing himself to Smile guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), coincidentally mere seconds after the band loses its lead singer.

A few montages later and the band now known as Queen (bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) completes the group) are signed up by manager John Reid (Aidan Gillen) and land a contract with EMI Records. The characters act and talk like they already know how the story turns out, and the film only manages to scratch beneath the surface when dealing with Mercury's relationship with love-of-his-life Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) and her gradual realisation of his sexuality. The rest consists of band squabbles that always seem to conclude with the writing of a hit song, rock movie cliches like the alcohol-fuelled parties and accelerating ego, and cartoon supporting characters (Mike Myers' meta appearance as EMI executive Ray Foster spectacularly misses the mark). By aiming for 12A/PG-13 certificate, Mercury's story is oddly sexless. For a man that radiated sex and sexiness with every air-punch and pout, the lack of raunchiness adds an unwelcome TV-movie quality. It only really comes alive when Malik is allowed to do his thing on stage, climaxing with an extended Live Aid performance that will have you singing along and waving your arms. It's a great impression by Malik, if hardly a great performance, and it helps reminds us of how great Queen really were and how timeless their sound is. Bohemian Rhapsody has certainly made me a bigger Queen fan, but this isn't the biopic the band deserve. That being said, I haven't come across a single person that agrees with me, so what do I know?


Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers
Country: UK/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #934: 'Jurassic Park' (1993)

Jurassic Park was one of the first movies I remember watching at the cinema as a youngster, and I was so blown away I quickly acquired a pirate video of it, which I routinely watched to death. The special effects, the music, the set-pieces, that familiar park logo - it all had me riveted. It's one of the game-changing blockbuster movies, and watching it again an astonishing 22 years later, it's remarkable just how well the movie has aged. It's not quite the perfect experience I remember - those Spielberg-isms are now clear as day - but Jurassic Park's mixture of robotics and CGI blows most modern films away in terms of tension and pure spectacle.

Eccentric millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) approaches palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his palaeobotanist partner Dr. Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) to join him on a journey to his newly built theme park. With the promise of a life-changing experience, the young-ish doctors cannot resist, so they journey to Isla Nublar, an island off the coast of Costa Rica, along with mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero). Upon arrival, they are greeted with the sight of a living, breathing brachiosaurus. Using the preserved dinosaur DNA extracted from mosquitoes preserved in tree sap, Hammond and his company have used cloning technology to birth a wide range of dinosaurs, including the terrifying tyrannosaurus rex and a group of velociraptors.

With this revelation comes the debate of whether man creating life is ethical, or in this scenario, safe. The dangers quickly become apparent to the group of doctors, but they cannot restrain their curiosity and are whisked off on a tour of the park. So confident is Hammond in the safety of his park, he invites his grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) to participate. However, disgruntled employee Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) has cut a deal to sell dinosaur embryos to a corporate rival, and when a storm hits the park, he shuts down all the power in order gain access to the eggs. With the electric fences keeping the dinosaurs in temporarily down, it isn't long before the dinosaurs are fleeing their pens.

At first, this is the patient Spielberg who gave us Jaws (1975), opting for a slow build-up to the big reveal rather than giving the audience instant gratification. The introduction of the T-Rex is now an iconic moment in cinema, a thrilling combination of tension and pure terror, with a jump shock thrown in for good measure. But once Spielberg finally unleashes his monsters, the film simply doesn't stop. Delivering set-piece after set-piece, Jurassic Park abandons all restraint and packs it's second hour when it should be preparing us for the next big scene. Jaws gave us that wonderful moment when the crew compared battle scars, but there is no such scene here, just another problem for our relatively bland archetypal heroes to solve.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is the character of John Hammond, Essentially the main antagonist, Hammond is a good-natured capitalist, a visionary who wants to bring wonder to the masses and make a tidy profit at the same time. Without a second thought for the consequences of his actions or the ethics of playing God, Hammond comes across as misguided, and too likeable to be labelled a villain. Hammond aside, Jurassic Park makes no apologies for its thinly-written characters, as this is a film of visual spectacle after all. When John Williams' famous score kicks in, it's easy to forget about the movie's many niggling problems and, for me at least, be reminded of that kid who would watch it on repeat with his nose a few inches from the screen.


Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie