Bohemian Rhapsody - Review

For a band that broke the mold and refused to be pigeon-holed into one particular genre or musical style, it is disappointing to see that Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is simply another musical biopic that features an incredible central performance that elevates it beyond its cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers screenplay just like many that have come before it e.g. Ray, Walk The Line.
It's certainly no Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. You might laugh but at least it knew that it was a comedy and it was okay when it made certain references and jokes.
In this film, when Freddie plays the opening notes of Bohemian Rhapsody on a piano and remarks "Think it could become something", you almost expect someone to turn to the camera and wink at the audience. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the scene where a record producer tells the band that "We need a song teenagers can bang their to in a car. Bohemian Rhapsody is not that song" and the producer is played by Mike Myers (who brought Queen to the attention of a new generation by doing exactly that). There should have been a big arrow with Mike Myers pointing at him on screen, similar to Mark Hamill's appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
The film takes time to explore the genesis of the band and how they would always do everything together when it came to the music. All opinions were valid and the finished product feels like a film that tried to appease too many people. It doesn't feel like the Freddie Mercury biopic that the project was initially going to be and instead you can see the fingerprints of Brian May and Roger Taylor all over it in the way that it repeatedly mentions May's work on Astrophysics and his PhDs and Taylor has made sure to showcase himself as a lothario.
Yet much like any of their live performances, the audience's attention is drawn to the Freddie Mercury whenever he is on screen and that is all down to Malek's performance where he simply becomes Freddie.
He perfectly captures the charismatic showman but also the troubled, mixed-up person who cannot truly be himself off the stage.
Yes, there are glimpses of his troubles and it doesn't exactly shy away from his sexuality but is hampered by the 12A certificate as exemplified in the scene where the band play Another One Bites The Dust superimposed over scenes of Mercury wandering around gay & S&M clubs bathed in red light. It looks for a moment like it could merge into a scene out of William Friedkin and Al Pacino's Cruising but never quite finds the mettle to go further.
Look, this reviewer knows more than anyone that any biopic will play it slightly fast and loose with the truth in order to tell the audience an entertaining story. It is the reason why all of these films have the following statement at the end of the credits "for dramatic effect"
However, there comes two points where selective use of the facts can impact a film.
1) The pedant in me will see a scene set in 1985 where Freddie is diagnosed with AIDS and they use Who Wants To Live Forever and think A - that is a bit on the nose and B - that song was not released until 1986 as part of the Highlander soundtrack.
2) When the story fudges the truth in order to elicit and manipulate an emotional reaction from the audience. This happens after Freddie and Queen end their estrangement (which never happened) and Freddie tells them of his diagnosis before their infamous Live Aid appearance because it didn't happen like this but is played out this way to heighten the emotion leading into this final performance.
Having said that, it is almost impossible to resist the urge to get up out of your seat and bang your head in the aisle of the cinema auditorium as the camera takes you right into Wembley Stadium for Live Aid and recreates one of the most iconic rock performances of all-time and showcase exactly why Queen were one of the best live bands and Freddie was, sorry Hugh, The Greatest Showman.

2 stars

X-Men: Days Of Future Past - review

If I were to try and sum up the plot for X-Men: Days Of Future Past in one paragraph, I might say that Wolverine is sent back in time to persuade Charles Xavier and Magneto to come together to stop Mystique killing Bolivar Trask which prompts the creation of the Sentinel program which ultimately wipes out mutant kind in the future.

Follow that? No? Doesn't matter. You could try watching all the X-Men films, including the Wolverine ones, and all the end credits stings to re-familiarise yourself with the storyline and characters but it might just end up creating more questions than answers.

An action-packed opening sequence in the future which introduces us to some new and familiar faces under attack from sentinels poses such nerdy questions like "How has Wolverine got his adamantium claws back?", "How the hell is Professor X alive and looking like himself?", "Kitty Pryde has always been able to walk through walls but how can she now send people back through time?".

But before we are given time to think too hard about these questions, Bryan Singer quickly sends Wolverine back through time and presents the audience with a shot of Hugh Jackman's naked arse in order to distract us.

As much as this is the X-Men version of The Terminator storyline where someone is sent back in them to prevent the creation of robotic creatures that will wipe out an entire race, it is also paralleled with Singer's return.

Having left the franchise after X2 in order to make Superman Returns, he returns to a storyline where he uses the characters developed in First Class to retcon the universe to alter events that he wasn't happy with in X3: The Last Stand which mishandled The Dark Phoenix saga among other things, effectively giving him a clean slate to work with in the future in The Age Of Apocalypse (which I can't help but sing to the tune of Age of Aquarius).

But you can't make people excited for the future unless they enjoy the current film (take note makers of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice).

Luckily this instalment is the most enjoyable since X2 from the opening attack which highlights the future sentinels and new mutants including Blink whose power of creating temporary portals is used to terrific visual effect or the sequence where Quicksilver infiltrates the Pentagon to break out Magneto with the best use of bullet-time since The Matrix.

Despite switching between the two time frames and featuring as many characters as you would find in a tweet, the main focus of the plot is the younger versions of Charles and Eric, who are further at odds than when we last saw them in First Class.

James McAvoy really gets to stretch his acting legs (pun intended) with the biggest character arc, starting as a drunk, disillusioned man who has given up his powers in exchange for the use of his legs (again not fully explained), completely uninterested in Wolverine's "future-shite" but must grow into the man who eventually becomes Patrick Stewart's calm, noble Professor X (with whom he shares a geek-tastic time-bending head-to-head).

The all-action climax helps to start reassembling the jigsaw pieces together to head towards the world already established in X-Men and X2 and it will be interesting to see if the next instalments feature the younger or older X-Men as this almost feels like a passing of the torch between casts.

An X-Cellent ensemble that successfully mutates between post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi and funky seventies blockbuster with the overall result being a bright future for the franchise.

If it was sitting an X-am, this would get a Days Of Future Pass.

4 stars

REVIEW: X-Men: First Class - Vaughn gives this franchise a reboot up the arse.

Ah, what a difference a couple of months can make.  It was only back in March that people (The Incredible Suit included) were despairing over the terrible marketing campaign Fox were putting out for X-Men: First Class.  Could it be that an insanely tight production schedule had resulted in a turkey of mutant proportions?
Fast forward to the end of May and First Class debuts to a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics hailing it as the best comic book movie since The Dark Knight.
So what's the truth?  While it is certainly not as good as The Dark Knight, it is closer to Batman Begins than Batman & Robin.
A lot of the reviews so far have made comparisons to Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise and a lot of them are justified.  Both Tim Burton's Batman and Bryan Singer's X-Men started with the heroes already existing in society.  Nolan went back to the beginning to look at what makes a man dress up as a bat to fight crime, and Vaughn looks at the formation of the X-Men (the recruitment montage features one of the best ever cameos and uses of the F-bomb) and the pivotal moment that turned friends Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnser into the enemies they were are the start of the first film.

"I loved you in Band Of Brothers", "I was going to say the same thing!"

Matthew Vaughn is really coming into his own as a director and delivers a summer blockbuster that nearly manages to break out of the comic book genre and become just a really great movie.  The period setting allows for Vaughn to fulfill his Bond fantasies (to the extent that the villain has a secret submarine in his yacht).  Kick-Ass proved he could do action but he manages to create a fun, action-packed summer blockbuster that never has to sacrifice story or character development. 
He has an impressive ensemble cast that help provide a lot more threads in the Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon game but top marks however must go to the James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence.  Despite the iconic performances of Stewart and McKellen, their younger counterparts quickly make the parts their own.  McAvoy has an impish charm to him, using his power to get girls until fate shows him that he is destined to use this power for a greater purpose, and Fassbender has the steely eyed look of a man who could be the next James Bond, and in this film he becomes a bona fide star.
There is a moment in the film where Xavier helps Magneto achieve the full extent of his powers and the look on Fassbender's face played out with Henry Jackman's music underneath is a truly touching moment which cements their friendship which makes the tragic turn events take all the more sad.
Jennifer Lawrence also makes the most of a terrific story arc that focuses on what has always been at the heart and soul of the X-Men stories: the struggle and fight for acceptance in a world that fears what is different.
First Class is not a perfect film.  Due to the rushed production schedule (it was rewritten, filmed, edited and post production all within a year), unfortunately there are some niggling issues like dodgy CGI, Beast's make-up, missing love story lot between Charles and Moira, a couple of underwritten minor characters, and Fassbender's accent going rather Oirish at times.  But I think that if Vaughn had had a little more time to polish rounds the edges then this could have been a five star film... but unless he gets the chance to tinker with it before the DVD release then he'll have to make do with a rating of 4.5 stars.

4.5 stars