MICHAEL -- A Thriller or Bad?

Review by Steve Barton II

When you walk into a party or click on the radio in your car, it’s hard to avoid the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. He’s created so many memorable and iconic songs that when people hear the first few notes of Billie Jean, they immediately drop what they’re doing to sing and dance along. Even generations that grew up without Michael being center stage of pop culture know his name and the impact he’s made on the music world. With the film Michael, Antoine Fuqua tells Michael’s story from his childhood with the Jackson Five and his abusive manager/father, all the way up to his iconic Bad tour. The film attempts a character study on a giant among men in the music industry, but it’s not the masterpiece that it should’ve been.

If you’re a giant Michael Jackson fan who just wants to see/hear all the hits and smile, this movie was made for you and you’ll adore it! The live concert scenes and recreating his videos were shot beautifully and the editing elevates it even higher. It always helps move an edit along with a great song and luckily the editor had no shortage of music nor footage to create a dynamic, memorable look that Michael always strived for. The dance choreography was also extremely important to nail down and Jaafar and Juliano absolutely cut a rug!

Jaafar Jackson is Michael's nephew and is so incredible as Michael that you almost forget he isn’t him in a few moments. Everything from the dancing, singing, mannerisms and even the falsetto speaking voice he used were all perfection. The passion to honor his uncle’s legacy is visible all over this movie and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him again around award season. While Nia Long is incredible as Michael’s mother, the major scene stealer is Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson. Once Colman got that distinct makeup on, he completely embodied this horrible monster that’s been talked about in the media for decades. Joe Jackson was the poster boy for an abusive parent of a child star, who saw his children as dollar signs, rather than his legacy. Colman strikes fear into the audience right away as Joe lays down his first (of many) punishments to Michael for expressing his individuality.

The major letdown of Michael is how surface level the whole story felt in the end. Without the musical elements, this movie felt like a general Wikipedia breakdown of his career. While all of these biopics (that especially have themselves or family with creative control) do a bit of whitewashing and reframing, Michael avoids any controversies all together. Even without the knowledge that they rewrote and reshot the last act of the film, it’s very obvious while watching it. While we touch on darker moments of Michael’s childhood and the way the fans and the media treated him, they hit the fast forward button several times as he gets older. They briefly touch on his prescription drug addiction, but they never show Michael in any negative light. While it’s obvious that his family didn’t want (or legally could not) put his controversial past on display once again, it makes the film Michael more hollow as a result.

Jaafar Jackson has earned his place among the best for portraying such a giant icon who we know so well and doing it justice. The scene in Michael where Jaafar is recreating Thriller video and other music sequences will be cut up into a compilation on YouTube in six months and it’ll go viral in minutes. In the end, Michael is a solid addition to the world of musical biopics, but he’s not the king of this artform.

Michael will dance his way into theaters starting April 24th!

Rating: 3.5/5