Try to imagine, if you can, Elliot from Mr. Robot singing “Another One Bites the Dust” or “Killer Queen” or “Don’t Step Me Now,” except instead of wearing a black hoodie, he’s decked out in a white tank top. Or skin-tight leather. And a mustache. You can’t forget the mustache. No, this isn’t the delusion of a depressed hacker — it’s the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.
The biopic, written by The Theory of Everything‘s Anthony McCarten and directed by Dexter Fletcher (who took over when Bryan Singer was fired from the project), takes place in the time period when Queen formed and when the band played their defining concert, at Live Aid in 1985. The glitzy trailer above, which does an admirable job of replicating Queen’s live shows, plays like a greatest hits collection: there’s little narrative cohesion, but it’s still engaging.
Here’s the official plot synopsis.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as Mercury’s lifestyle spirals out of control, and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid, where Mercury, facing a life-threatening illness, leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. In the process, cementing the legacy of a band that were always more like a family, and who continue to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.
Bohemian Rhapsody — which also stars Gwilym Lee as guitarist Brian May, Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon, and Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor — opens on November 2.
