Watched it last night.

Very tough film to review for me being a huge Queen fan as it is hard to separate my love for the music from the film. That being said:

1) I ended up liking Freddy less after the film than before it. Actually hoping that the film most of missed the mark on him. His relationship with his band mates seemed almost - well, plastic.

2) A LOT of missed opportunities IMO to delve into his character.

SPOILERS

As an example, we don't get a scene with him and a Doctor when we first find out he has aids.  The public's interest in his health is kind of rolled up in all one fictitious press conference rather than dripped out like in happened in real life. etc.

All and all - not sure I could recommend to non Queen fans.

I found the film troubling in a way I don't fully comprehend.

I think it was something to do with seeing someone who had achieved do much creatively and they were already dead at an age I've barely started, but it had quite an intense effect on me. Quite an unpleasant one.

In terms of the film, I'd have to say my ultimate feeling was it felt quite ironic: There's a moment Freddy said that he didn't want his life and death to be a morality tale.

The way the film was made it was hard to take much else from it.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I found the film troubling in a way I don't fully comprehend. I think it was something to do with seeing someone who had achieved do much creatively and they were already dead at an age I've barely started, but it had quite an intense effect on me. Quite an unpleasant one. In terms of the film, I'd have to say my ultimate feeling was it felt quite ironic: There's a moment Freddy said that he didn't want his life and death to be a morality tale. The way the film was made it was hard to take much else from it.

Well said.

I was not impressed, sadly.  In fact, I didn't really like it at all.

Performances were good, but story felt very by the numbers and nothing really stood out.

Not for me.

Grade - C+

Might be unfair for me to judge because I only caught the last 40 minutes or so on an HBO preview...

The scene where he reveals to the band that he has AIDS was painful. Not painful in a good, dramatic way... but it was rushed. He blurts it out... one of them says something like "God Freddy, I'm sorry... and then Malek brushes it away. No dramatic pause. No scoring. It was supposed to be the most dramatic moment of the film, and it felt like a high school play.

The rest of it was boring, and I didn't get an emotional charge out of the LIVE AID performance at the end.  Malek portrayed Freddy brilliantly and probably deserved the statue... but as has been said here, this looked by the numbers, it looked boring, and it played with the timeline of events to create drama that really didn't exist.

I'm a huge Queen fan, and this was definitely a movie for non-Queen fans...

AJR