“Michael” hit the screens this weekend, and it’s safe to say it isn’t without its flaws, despite a hefty box-office take home projected to hit over $100 million domestically.
In "Michael", Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson was cast to try and capture the magic that shot his uncle to once-in-a-generation superstardom. In the 29-year-old’s feature film debut, he delivers a performance that is undeniably fun, considering he looks a lot like Michae and certainly captures his stage presence.
The issue — “Michael” often feels less like a biopic and more like a collection of music videos with loose plot filling the spaces. As such, Michael as a character often feels underdeveloped and lacking real depth.
The film covers 1966 to 1988, starting with The Jackson 5’s humble beginnings. A young Micheal (portrayed by Juliano Valdi) and his brothers — Marlon, Tito, Jermaine and Jackie, practice songs in their home in Gary, Indiana. Their stringent father Joseph is portrayed by Colman Domingo.
Domingo does a good job of being unlikable, but the way Joseph Jackson is written doesn’t allow much wiggle room for the actor to shine through in any meaningful way. He only has one voice throughout the entirety of his screen time — demanding, controlling and angry.
Time jumps around a lot but Domingo’s character sticks as the key antagonist and roadblock in the way of Michael’s goal of becoming a solo artist. The movie hinges heavily on Jackson’s push for freedom.
With his family being such a big cog in the plot of the movie, it truly is a shame that both of Michael’s parents are completely one dimensional, Katherine Jackson played by Nia Long is a supportive mother but stands by watching physical and verbal abuse at the hands of her husband for much of the movie. Michael’s brothers are cast to the wayside. You can count on one hand the number of times any of the four brothers besides Michael speak, in spite of the fact that the living Jackson siblings all had a hand in producing the movie.
Young Michael is an adorable, shy kid who doesn’t yet fully understand the scale of his shine. From the opening scene, the movie focuses on what Jackson missed out on, as he sits and watches regular kids playing outside before practicing with his brothers. However, the pace of the movie allows for little substance. Instead of slowing down and showing the viewer the immediate effects of Joseph’s abuse, director Antione Fuqua focuses the non-musical scenes from Jackson’s childhood on the aspects of a childhood robbed.
Despite the clear flaws in writing and plot development, both Valdi and Jaafar Jackson do well in their roles as the King of Pop.
Once Michael grows up, we see a young man with a childlike joy. He gets a chimp, a giraffe, a snake and a giant collection of kids toys — scenes of Jackson meeting and bonding with a chimp are cute at first, but feel more like a misplayed card by Fuqua upon second thought. We spend forty minutes watching a kid get used by his father, and now the movie wants us to be amused by his misplaced child-like behavior.
The movie blasts through events such as the production of “Off the Wall”, Michael paying visits to children’s hospitals and the composition of “Beat It” — stopping for only a few small moments that strike real emotional chords, or at the very least attempt to.
Michael confides often in his bodyguard, Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) who is a steady voice throughout the film encouraging him to pave his own path. Jones is a solid character actor who does just fine in the role he’s given here.
The film also includes Jackson’s 1981 decision to get rhinoplasty, attempting to give the audiences a small glimpse into the singer’s insecurities.
Jaafar Jackson really earns his turn as Michael through the movie’s many musical scenes. Jaafar shares an uncanny resemblance to his uncle, and he didn’t cut any corners in replication of all of the famous dance routines. He nails his uncle's voice and captures him in a very positive light, earning his role in spite of the limiting writing that fails to shine a light on the singer’s controversies.
This is the very nature of what’s wrong with “Michael”, it’s so repetitive in portraying Jackson trying to break free from the shackles of his father that time is only allowed for music or to paint him as a victim.
Obviously, Jackson had a horrible childhood, but completely ignoring all flaws for an estate-formulated biopic almost feels like a disservice to the deceased star. In movies like “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “A Complete Unknown”, the plot revolves around the artist’s personal flaws. This is not the case at all here.
The 1984 Pepsi promotion incident is depicted, where Jackson’s hair was set ablaze during a pyrotechnic malfunction. This incident was a pivotal moment in the real-life Michael Jackson’s life, as it ended up leading to pain killer addiction which contributed to other health troubles down the road. In the movie, it results in the Jackson family’s patriarch losing his lid on his injured son, still trying desperately to get every bit of money he can from Michael.
After the movie’s core issues settle and Michael cuts his musical ties with Joseph, we get a big jump to 1988 and are left with Jackson performing “Bad” for a crowd before the credits roll.
It should be noted that much of the movie’s lack of commentary on Jackson’s personal flaws was due to a clause found in the 1993 sexual abuse lawsuit against the pop star, which prohibited the movie from depicting it. Scenes were shot about the 1993 investigations and trials but had to be cut later on.
Unfortunately, “Michael” has nothing particularly interesting or new to tell us about the singer’s personality — and while the novelty of the movie is fun and exciting, viewers should be aware they’re mostly paying to see fresh recreations of Jackson’s most popular songs and videos on the big screen. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you want depth and a better understanding of who Michael Jackson was, this movie will leave you disappointed.
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