by Jamie Hehir

Rami Malek gives the performance of his life as he portrays Freddie Mercury like no other could as the film follows Freddie’s background and the challenges of the band Queen. Throughout the movie Freddie is in a constant battle with his identity as he defies stereotypes and makes a name for himself within the music industry as this is extremely relatable to any artists around that time period and to this date.

The film makes sure to show Freddie as a musical genius thriving in and out of the studio as Queen becomes a high rising band. This leaves the audience in awe as they showed the trials and errors the band had gone through to make sure their music was to their own liking. This shows the determination of Freddie and his drive to push his fellow band mates into stardom.

The energy in this film is unmatched as it covers the luxurious life of rock and roll artists even if some moments were not ideal and arguably dark, it had just been the way of the music industry. Consumed by lust, drugs, music and alcohol Freddie finds himself in a downward spiral mentally and physically. As his personal life had been pushed into the spotlight causing accusations towards his sexuality he fights his realities until he is faced with the diagnosis of AIDS which as that time period was highly dangerous.

The ending gives chills as the film creates the spitting image of Queens performance for Live Aid for that is arguably Freddie’s best performance he ever gave on stage. The nostalgic feel comes alive and reminds the audience of the inspiration Freddie had help create as he is still an influencer to dreamers and music lovers around the world.