EAT • SLEEP • REVIEW • REPEAT
MICHAEL
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: John Logan
Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Mike Myers, Laura Harrier
It’s no thriller.
While superheroes have undoubtedly been the dominant force in mainstream cinema over the past decade or so, an equally prevailing genre has found itself flying under the radar somewhat. Although music biopics have been part of the cinematic landscape for years, there’s been an undeniable boom in the genre of late, with the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and Rocketman all showing there’s tonnes of cash to be made from telling an iconic artist’s story while simultaneously raiding their back catalogue.
From Queen to Elton via Springsteen and Dylan, these jukebox biopics are being greenlit left, right, and centre in a clear and brazen attempt to tap into a large, established fanbase ready and waiting to see their hero’s life being recounted on the big screen. However, while there’s certainly been plenty of solid attempts at the genre through the years, they’ve so often felt cynical and lazy and more concerned with pandering to their protagonist while spinning the hits than digging deep and telling the story that needs to be told.
Of all the artists to receive the biopic treatment in recent times, few come with as much baggage as Michael Jackson. His is a story rich in intrigue, success, pain, outrageous talent, and even more outrageous controversy that, in theory, should make for one hell of a cinematic story. Whether Michael actually has the guts to tell that story, however…well…we shall see.
From his humble childhood in Gary, Indiana, and the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson 5 to his evolution into a visionary solo artist and the biggest pop star in the world, Michael traces the meteoric rise of the complicated and controversial man who would grow to become the “King of Pop”.
Ok, let’s not mince words here. From start to finish, Michael is, and was always going to be, a pandering puff-piece of a film. Despite the relatively steady hand of Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua in the director’s chair, Michael Jackson’s estate (somewhat inevitably) have their fingerprints all over this film, leading to a story that is, more than any other music biopic in recent memory, a heavy-handed piece of glitzy PR that avoids going any further than skin deep with its star.
For better or worse, Michael is exactly the movie you think it’s going to be. Let’s face it, with such oversight from the Jackson estate and a legion of hardcore MJ fans to placate, this was always going to be the case. But, while there’s some merit to showcasing and celebrating the undeniable talent and inimitable creative force of Michael Jackson, especially in the early years of his life and career, it’s objectively disappointing that this is where Michael’s story begins and ends.
To its credit, Michael’s celebratory nature works well to showcase Jackson’s iconic music, with the film’s jukebox approach ticking off all the early MJ hits in a methodical, but undeniably absorbing, manner. From “I’ll Be There” to “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, and “Bad”, the film’s track list has got you covered for stone cold classics, each one given a polish and a shine and the platform necessary to please Michael Jackson’s many, many fans.
Blending the vocals of Jaafar Jackson (and Juliano Valdi as the young Michael Jackson) with that of Michael himself, there’s a prevailing air of unnerving uncanniness to the music at times but it undoubtedly works to hook us in. The same goes with the staging of the “live” performances, which are all excellently executed and done with an immersive razzmatazz in precisely the same way the Live Aid finale to Bohemian Rhapsody did (one of many ways the two biopics share DNA).
It also helps that Jaafar Jackson’s performance is pretty exceptional. While he does well to mimic his uncle’s look, voice, and mannerisms, it’s in these concert segments that Jaafar gets to let fly with a performance that should live up to the sky high expectations of Michael Jackson’s still strong fanbase. Whether it’s solo or with the rest of the Jackson 5, Jaafar’s stage presence and mesmerising performance, together with that of the young Juliano Valdi and the truly terrifying presence of Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, marks the film’s undoubted highlight and offer by far the most dynamic moments of a movie that is otherwise sorely lacking in them.
And this is where we come to the crux of the film’s issues. While the performances are great, staging stellar, and the music undeniable, everything else just leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
Depressingly hollow and utterly lacking in conviction, Michael is less a movie at times and more a cynical, shallow propaganda piece that exists purely to placate fans and distract from Michael Jackson’s many issues while simultaneously placing him on a huge, messiah-like pedestal. Of course, Michael Jackson’s place as one of the most iconic and talented pop stars of his generation is never in doubt. What is in doubt, however, is absolutely everything else surrounding him.
Without wanting to dig into the murky details (there are plenty of fine documentaries and investigative pieces that have done just that and tackled them far better than I ever could), there are many, many troubling questions and controversies swirling around out there regarding Michael Jackson – and this film decides to ignore pretty much all of them.
Whether it’s the overbearing terror of Joe Jackson or Michael’s body dysmorphia and vitiligo, there are certainly glimmers of hope that the film is willing to touch on deeper issues within Jackson’s character and history, however, there is never a moment where it feels like these things are dealt with or portrayed adequately. As with so much of Michael, there’s a thick layer of impenetrable sheen to the story that never allows Antoine Fuqua to fully engage with the issues at hand, instead using them as a tick box exercise to be briefly brought up before swiftly moving on.
Focusing squarely on the first portion of Michael Jackson’s career and his rise from child star to mega-stardom with the release of ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’, and then ‘Bad’, Michael was clearly never intended to be anything other than a pure celebration of the artist, however, it’s more than a little disappointing/disturbing that there’s no more depth to it than that. And that’s before you get to the fact that the film awkwardly (and conveniently) cuts the story short before it ever has the chance to address the latter portion of Jackson’s life where most of the serious allegations and controversies would arise.
The result is a music biopic in all but name that achieves exactly what it aims to achieve – to celebrate its star’s talent and iconic music – and, in that regard, it works well and will undoubtedly please fans while earning an absolute tonne of money in the process. But as anything more than that, and as even a mild attempt at broaching the pricklier side of Michael Jackson’s life and character, it’s awkward, nauseating, and, well, bad. Ready, really bad.
A glitzy, pandering, sanitised puff-piece biopic with little to no depth – for better or worse, Michael is exactly the film you think it’s going to be. As a celebration of Michael Jackson’s meteoric rise and iconic music, it works well enough, but as anything else, it’s sadly lacking. The tunes are well staged and speak for themselves, while Jaafar Jackson does a great job of embodying his uncle and Colman Domingo is suitably monstrous as Joe Jackson, yet the rest of Michael just feels depressingly hollow, awkwardly indulgent, and completely lacking in conviction to engage with anything deeper than surface level.
