TL;DR – A complicated film about a complicated person that stops just short of having to draw any lines in the sand by creating an interesting framing device for its narrative.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

Michael Review Introduction

Ever since the onslaught that was Bohemian Rhapsody, the cinema space has been full of other musical biopics trying to recreate that lightning in a bottle, assuming you rate Bohemian Rhapsody highly in the first place. We had the fascinating Kneecap, the historically revisionist  The Greatest Showman, and the shameless Oscar grab of A Complete Unknown, to name a few. However, there are always new musicians out there ready for their musical biopic, and today’s entry takes us to the complicated world of Michael Jackson. Now, given this is a movie about a real person’s life, someone who lived not that long ago, we won’t be as stringent with spoilers in this review as we would for a fictional work.

So, to set the scene, throughout the history of 20^th-century music, few people have had the same reach and popularity as Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson). Even as a child, Michael’s (Juliano Krue Valdi) talent was clear to anyone who could see or hear. But talent can be a gift, and it can be a burden. It can lift a family from obscurity into the lounge rooms of every house in America and the world, and it can also rip that family apart.

Family Matters

Now, I come into this film as someone who grew up in the 1990s, thus his wonderful music constantly surrounded me. But I was also alive when some of the more complicated parts of his life played out for all of the world to see. All of this led me to wonder how they would tackle those aspects of his life. Well, for this film, the answer was to simply ignore them. Now, I am being a touch unfair here, because they do make some allusions about those issues that would dominate the end of his career. For example, the effects that having an isolated childhood had on someone considered a prodigy. But the film actively chooses to end this outing before they have to draw a line in the sand, and that feels disingenuous. Also, there are some notable omissions, such as several of Michael’s siblings, and some story elements that felt a bit streamlined. Indeed, there is an awkward note in the credits that shows that one of those streamlining efforts ruffled some feathers.

How they chose to construct the film was to base all the structure of the film around the evolving relationship between Michael and his father, Joe Jackson (Colman Domingo). This is the part of the film where they don’t hold back in exploring just what Michael’s childhood was like, becoming uncomfortably honest with Joe’s selfish control. There is this fear of going back to that steel mill that drives all of Joe’s actions, and sets the film in an uncomfortable grey area where you are not sure if they are showing him as a man trying to stop his kids following his path or a father using his children as a golden parachute. Then the film removes all doubt in a profoundly confronting scene, which I am unsure how they actually filmed it. This becomes the core tension of the film, and it is where the narrative is at its best.

The Voice

One of the themes that plays throughout the film is the notion of a voice and how you use it. One of the clear examples of this is the juxtaposition of Colman Domingo’s deep baritone power with Jaafar Jackson’s quieter strength. We also see it in the way that Katherine Jackson (Nia Long) spends the film finding her own voice in a one-sided marriage. Or how Michael spends the film surrounding himself with people who let him articulate his own voice. Or even how Mike Myers shows up for five minutes in the film and uses his voice to singularly bump the rating up to an American PG-13. You would think that for a musical biopic, focusing on the performer’s voice would be a given … but you would be surprised.

It is also the depiction of a voice that became a part of the film that I struggled the most with. The real-life Michael Jackson’s voice is so unique that you know it from just hearing a snippet of it. When taking this challenge on, Michael chose to do a pitch-perfect recreation of his voice rather than a homage or a nod to its iconic nature. I don’t want to get technical about how someone performs their uncle, however, unfortunately, this choice ripped me out of the film for a large part of the second act. For me, personally, it caused this uncanny feeling in the back of my head that took a long time to shift. I am not sure if I got more used to it as the film went on, or the movie got better at deploying it, because thankfully the issue went away as we started to ramp up towards the end.    

It’s the Music

One area where Michael shines the most is in the recreations of some of Michael’s iconic songs and performances. Much as the wild ride that was Elvis, they understood that the music and the dance were paramount to the production. Well, they were right to think so, because they are, without a doubt, the highlight of the film, and the production left no crumbs when putting them together. The attention to detail in some of those sequences is amazing to watch and yanks you back in time to the first time you watched it. Jaafar Jackson comes alive in these musical sequences that have some of the most intense choreography I have seen on the screen in an age. You will be tapping your feet, moving along with the beat, and physically stopping yourself from singing along to Thriller. Michael understands the power and the message behind each song, and it shows.

Lights, Camera, Action

Now, when it comes to the production, this film is no slouch, which is quite amazing given the rocky production history it had. Look, when you hire Antoine Fuqua, you know you are going to get a quality output, and this film is no exception. It is clear that he and his team have an innate understanding of music and how best to bring it onto the big screen. For example, I love the touch at the start when you would hear the full song in the recording booth, but when we cut to Michael, it is just his voice alone. It is choices such as that, which helps build the strength of the film through its visual language. Sure, if you wanted to be nitpicky, they clearly didn’t film with real animals most of the time, and that absolutely was not New York. But that would be disingenuous. The costumes, locations, music, and feel are right on for the time period of the film, and it is clear that a lot of care went into the proceedings.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Michael? Well, if you are a fan of Michael Jackson, then this is an easy yes. I would recommend it to you for the music alone, and it is more than just the music. If you are looking for more introspection about the character, then I am not sure you are going to find more illumination than you already know, unless they get around to making the Part Two they foreshadow like it was an Avengers announcement.

Have you watched Michael? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.If you liked Michael, we would recommend to you Rocketman or Better Man as they take the notion of a biopic, twist it a bit, take an absolutely bonkers risk, and then help you come to a new appreciation of the performers championed.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Michael
Directed by – Antoine Fuqua
Written by – John Logan
Music by – Lior Rosner
Edited by – John Ottman & Harry Yoon
Production/Distribution Companies – Lionsgate Films, GK Films & Universal Pictures.
Starring – Jaafar Jackson, Juliano Krue Valdi, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jamal R. Henderson, Tre Horton, Rhyan Hill, Joseph David-Jones, & Jessica Sula
With – Jayden Harville, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Judah Edwards, Nathaniel Logan McIntyre, Kendrick Sampson, Larenz Tate, Liv Symone, Kevin Shinick, Mike Myers, & Deon Cole
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: PG; Germany: 6; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 12a; United States: PG-13