Journalist: “Where’s the modesty?”

Queen drummer Roger Taylor: “Well, there isn’t any…”

Damn right.

With songs that could level buildings and summon angels, Queen embodied total rock bombast and triumph. With musical phoenix Freddie Mercury at the helm, Queen went from glam to progressive to operatic to corporate to funky to lambasted to revered. This documentary, which tightly packs in nearly 40 years of group happenings into little more than two hours, has a few cracks but makes one thing clear: there had never been a band like this before, and there will never be another band like this ever again.

See the lost footage of the group appearing on Top of the Pops, accentuated by Taylor calling the show “rubbish.” Hear guitarist Brian May describe how he earned his father’s acceptance of his career…after playing Madison Square Garden. Learn more about the group’s inner workings from reclusive bassist John Deacon. Watch the band steal the show at Live Aid after a five-year lull.

It’s hard not to tear up watching Freddie Mercury’s frail figure shortly before dying from AIDS, but what’s most important to take away from this documentary is the fact that with Queen, modesty isn’t the best policy, it’s monarchy.

– Ira Kantor