Rocketman vs. Bohemian Rhapsody

Eagleskywalker87

on 5/26/2019

Minor spoilers. When watching Rocketman, it was hard not to compare it to Bohemian Rhapsody. Young man with potential gets famous quickly and sees his life spiraling out of control not helping is his controlling manager and eventually has to get himself better again. Bohemian Rhapsody follows his structure very closely- often changing real events to suiting plot threads that never happened. Rocketman, instead of watering down a tired structure, it uses it to expand its story. Disapproving parents are geniuelly bad people, it uses surreal imagery as well as themes on the desire to follow this false reality. At first glance, these two are similar but upon further inspection, there's a lot different. Bohemian Rhapsody feels rushed and somewhat underdeveloped, Rocketman fleshed out it's portrayal. Bohemian Rhapsody has the cliche and forced tension of the character has to get better again for a big 'one last time' situation, Rocketman has the character realising how shitty and isolated his life is as a result of the negligence of others. Freddie starts out hiding as a straight man in love with Mary and then comes out as the story unfolds, Elton is open to a handful of people at the beginning. Bohemian Rhapsody really tones down it's use of drugs, sex and alcohol, Rocketman embraces it. In the story aspect, Rocketman wins hands down. In acting, Taron Egerton gives a much better performance than Rami Malek. He makes the part his own as well as re-recording the songs. Rami does an impersonation, lip syncs and his performance is pretty hollow on the rewatch. So after all this, after all my reasoning, it may surprise you gentle reader that I prefer Bohemian Rhapsody. Rocketman may be the better film, yes, but my love for Queen is stronger than my liking for Elton. The production in both is almost flawless but I liked the music in Bohemian Rhapsody and seeing it developed. Rocketman has a LOT of cheesy musical numbers that burst out of nowhere, Bohemian Rhapsody works with the straight forward tone of just having the band perform and develop their music. I find the relationship of Freddie and Mary way more compelling than any of Elton's relationships. Also, the Live Aid sequence is bloody amazing and I don't think Rocketman has a sequence that tops this. Don't get me wrong, some of Rocketmans set pieces and choreography is great but it doesn't impact me quiet like Live Aid in BoRap. And my final vote would go down to the one I will watch again on an average day in the life of me... which is Bohemian Rhapsody as I am a bigger Queen fan and some plot elements are used better. It may be a sellout move for myself going for an outside preference over cinematic quality but screw that, I know what I like...