Part 2 of the Queen Under Review series takes a look at the years 1980-1991, when the band basically re-established themselves as rock icons amidst a changing musical climate. At less than 80 minutes long, there's a lot less content here than the first installment of this series which looked at Queen's output in the 70's, but this is still an insightful and entertaining watch. With interviews from such high profile rock journalists as Malcom Dome, Chris Welch, and Daryl Easlea, DJ Ben Jones, and long time friend of Freddie Mercury, Paul Gambaccini, albums like Hot Space, The Works, Kind of Magic, Miracle, and the grand finale Innuendo are looked at and discussed, as are the soundtrack to Flash Gordon and the posthumus Made in Heaven. Spliced in with the interview comments are plenty of rare live footage of the band as well as videos for songs like "Body Language", "I Want to Break Free", "Radio Ga Ga", "Kind of Magic", "Those Were the Days of Our Lives", and many more. Through it all you get a real sense (even though you don't hear this from the band's mouths) that Queen had an uphill battle trying to stay relevant amidst changing musical times, almost falling off the radar until a break-out performace at the famous Live Aid concert. Freddie Mercury's struggle with and death from AIDS is also discussed, and it's Gamaccini's telling of a conversation that he had with Freddie in the early 80's that is especially sad. He talks of speaking with the late singer in the early 80's, after AIDS started to really spread, and asked if with all that was going on if he had rethought his way of life and had started to be more careful, and Mercury replied "fuck no, I'm doing everything with everybody".
Under Review 1980-1991 is well worth getting for fans of Queen or those wanting to explore what the latter era of the band was all about. While it would have rounded out this DVD even more to have commentary from the band as well, it's still stands up well as a solid documentary of one of the all-time greatest rock bands the world has ever seen, and a tribute to Freddie Mercury, a legendary entertainer and singer.
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