Michael has hit the big screen with a chronological story charting the rise of a global pop sensation, starring Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s nephew.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, Michael follows his life throughout the rise of the Jackson 5 and the forging of his solo career, charting a course through 1988, a whole five years before controversy followed the King of Pop.
Film News Blitz writer Bella Ford shares her thoughts.
Rating: ★★★
Film relationships
The film starts in Indiana, 1966, with Michael as a young boy and the Jackson brothers performing in their family’s living room.
Father of the house, Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo), is heavily criticising them, especially Michael, highlighting his father’s strict guidance right from the start.
This sets a tone, as throughout the film, Joseph Jackson abuses and exploits Michael.
The film focuses on that father-son relationship over others; Michael’s brothers barely get a line of dialogue, and Janet is in the background, forgotten about.
Still, the spotlight is on Michael’s success rather than the whole tragedy of it all, the abuse; he had no friends, it was shown but barely elaborated on.
Moreover, the story sequence is quite basic; with Michael’s life laid out chronologically with dates and locations every few years, almost like an important life event, a concert, a time jump, and repeat.
But the concerts and music scenes are very enjoyable and enough to keep the audience moving and engaged.
Jaafar Jackson, in particular, impressively immerses himself in the lead role, and there are some fun scenes with the King of Pop.
The Thriller sequence feels like it’s ripped straight from the original music video, and you can’t fault Jaafar’s similarity to his Uncle.
Juxtaposed with the success and impressive musical numbers, Michael presents an at times odd and disturbing watch.
This is especially apparent in sequences where the film highlights its subject’s obsession with pets, Peter Pan, and his monkey Bubbles.
It has an underlying sadness to it as Michael is shown not to have any human friends as they “didn’t get him.”
A familiar producer
This film was made by the same producer, Graham King, as the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Both films follow a similar structure, ending on a big concert, with Queen’s being Live Aid and Michael’s being the final Jackson 5 performance, followed by the Bad-era tour in 1988 at Wembley.
Jaafar Jackson
Jaafar’s moves during the dancing scenes, especially filming the ‘Beat it’ music video, are flawless.
On the Tonight Show, he said, “When I first heard about the movie, my thought definitely wasn’t ‘I’m going to play Michael’, I’d never dreamed about being an actor, my first thought was ‘I wonder who will play Michael.’”
King said, “Jaafar stood out from the pack, it wasn’t about what he was saying or even his look, it was just a feeling of rightness that was so strong I couldn’t ignore it.
“We looked at 200 actors around the world, but no one could beat Jaafar.”
More to come
Michael has made a strong opening impression at the box office, having already grossed over $200 million worldwide.
This will be a welcome sight for the film’s producers, with a follow-up in the works.
Michael concludes with a black screen with the text, “his story continues” on it.
Given the Jackson family’s involvement with this biopic, it remains to be seen if part two touches on the allegations of abuse towards minors.
Overall, Michael is a good watch in the cinema, with great performances from Jaafar Jackson and Domingo, but you just can’t help but think they missed out half of the superstar’s life.
Will part two pick up what Michael left on the cutting room floor?
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