Queen Live in Budapest Movie Review Trailer
With news scarce regarding the start date of the Freddie Mercury biopic starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Queen fans will have to satisfy their desire to see the band on the big screen with *Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest ’86*. This concert film captures the group's visit to Eastern Europe and includes moments such as Mercury performing traditional Hungarian folk songs.
In 1986, Queen embarked on what would turn out to be their final tour. Following their monumental performance at Live Aid, they had cemented their status as serious contenders for the title of "the biggest band in the world," selling out concert after concert across Europe. Although the final stop of the *Magic Tour* drew a crowd of nearly 300,000 to Knebworth, it is the band's journey behind the Iron Curtain that arrives in cinemas this weekend as a concert film.
Director: János Zsombolyai
Stars: Queen, John Deacon, Brian May
Freddie Mercury once declared that Queen were "the Cecil B. DeMilles of rock and roll." The only way to test that hypothesis was to project footage of the band onto the largest screen possible, seeing if they could command a cinema audience's attention just as that visionary filmmaker did. That is precisely what *Hungarian Rhapsody* achieves so successfully. From the opening track, "One Vision," *Live In Budapest* reminds anyone who might have forgotten that Queen is, quite simply, one of the most important bands of the 20th century and that, in Freddie Mercury, they possessed one of the greatest—if not *the* greatest—frontmen of all time.
Watching Mercury captivate and command the crowd evokes the bold statement made by Jeff Bebe, leader of the band Stillwater in the film *Almost Famous*: "You know what I do? I connect. I make people have a great time." "I look for the guy who isn't enjoying himself and make him do it." Freddie managed to do exactly that. You might have heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" a million times—just like the enthusiastic crowd at this concert—but he performs it with a freshness that makes you forget its overexposure over the last 25-plus years. After tearing through a version of "Under Pressure" that features active audience participation—including that lively vocal back-and-forth recently seen in archival footage during the Olympic Games closing ceremony—the band performs "Love Of My Life" and "Who Wants To Live Forever," displaying an intimacy that would seem impossible before a crowd the size of a small nation. With a bombastic version of Little Richard’s "Tutti Frutti," the concert truly showcases every facet of Queen.
Where *Hungarian Rhapsody* falters is in its brief forays outside the venue. "See Roger Taylor go go-karting! See Brian May in a hot-air balloon!" No, thanks. This narrative choice adds nothing but footage of bored rock stars. We are here to see Queen play music. This isn't a documentary; it's a concert film, and there are clear differences—the main one being that it should feel like you're actually at the concert. This "behind-the-scenes" nonsense doesn't make us feel like VIPs; it simply pulls us out of the atmosphere, like being forced to get up and pee every 20 minutes.
And although this costs it some points—*Hungarian Rhapsody* lacks the fluidity of great concert films like Talking Heads' *Stop Making Sense* or *The Last Waltz*—when compared to recent cinematic releases from artists like Katy Perry or Justin Bieber, this is—to use Freddie's own words—"the greatest show on Earth."
It is a vision of a band at the peak of its powers. For Queen fans, a trip to the cinema this weekend is a must; and for those who may have forgotten just how good the band was—perhaps due to endless, mediocre commercial productions like *We Will Rock You* or the constant public exposure of Brian May’s hair and opinions—we strongly recommend rediscovering an extraordinary band, one that has almost certainly had a massive influence on a large part of your music collection.
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