Disclaimer before you read this post: This review contains spoilers, but on the same hand, if you've followed any aspect of Michael Jackson's life, there's not much to ruin for you here, history wise. It will, however, spoil what the film does and doesn't contain.
As the reviews began to hit mid-last week, I was shocked to hear that critic reception was somewhat negative. Thinking about this as the days passed, I was less surprised and actually began to feel that it made sense they didn't like the film. After all, the biggest complaint I was hearing from them was that it didn't paint Michael as a child predator, nor focus in on the accusations and controversy surrounding the allegations. While the film initially did touch on the scandal for its third act, for legality purposes, they couldn't keep the footage. As a result, the final act of the film was reshot.
However, there was another concern from the world of critics. One which I actually did put some stock into. That being that the film actually didn't serve as any form of actual story about one of the most famous men in history. Instead, it played things safe, serving instead as fan service. Essentially, here's this music video, and then this one, and hey, look, here's another. My fear going into it was that Michael, the biopic, would serve as nothing more than two hours of recreated music videos shown back-to-back. That is certainly not what I wanted out of the film.
Last chance to bow out before the spoilers. No? Okay. You've been warned.
Though I wasn't wanting a smear campaign of the King of Pop, I was hoping to get a further glimpse into his life. His struggles under the thumb of Joseph, his desire to spread his wings, dealing with the sudden fame which made it all but impossible for him to go anywhere, and his continued rise to fame through the Bad era, which is ultimately where the film ends after all the reshoots.
As the intro to Wanna Be Starting Something builds, the film opens backstage, with Michael preparing to take the stage for his 1988 Wembley tour. However, just as the thunderous crowd gets louder and louder, we immediately cut to Gary, Indiana, 1966, and the beginning, but very abridged history of the Jackson 5.
The main focus of everything stays on Michael, and noticeably missing are siblings Randy, Rebbie, and Janet. Not that this necessarily matters, because the remaining brothers have less lines combined than La Toya.
The film of course paints Joseph as nothing more than a villain, which is sad. Yes, I do understand that he was considered abusive, strict, and controlling. But I think it often gets forgotten that the only reason there was a Jackson 5 was because of how much he put into it. I'm not saying that makes him a saint by any means, but the fact remains, no Joseph, faults and all, there's no brothers, no Motown, no Jackson 5, no Thriller, no King of Pop.
While this portion of the film does get a fair amount of time dedicated to it, it still ultimately feels rushed. The Jackson 5 goes from a concept playing in bars, to suddenly on stage, following the act of Gladys Knight, and being observed by Suzanne de Passe, who hands Joseph her business card. Next thing you see, they're signed to Motown, and recording, missing the perfect opportunity to recreate the now classic audition tape for Barry Gordy.
Instead, the years keep flying by so fast that there's really no time for the story to breath. Dialog is often skipped in lieu of musical numbers, but rarely a full song. Before we know it, it's the 70's, and Michael is a full-grown man, in talks with CBS to record his first solo album for them. In jumping this far ahead, the history of Michael has leapt over the end of the Jackson 5 era, Jermaine staying with Motown, the formation of The Jacksons with Randy, and probably most offensive, The Wiz. Though I don't know if the latter was even intended to be a part of the film, I do know that Kat Graham was filmed as Diana Ross, and every scene she did was cut.
This is also where the pace of the film picks up even more. Rather than taking a moment to unpack Michael's Off The Wall era, we're instead zoomed through it in a montage, stopping at the home of the Jacksons to watch as a truck pulls up to deliver Bubbles the chimp. Joseph, played by Colman Domingo, absolutely steels this scene with his comedic reaction to the whole thing. As for the primate itself, the CGI is pretty bad.
Within what felt like the span of minutes, we're now in the Thriller era. Michael is seeking new management representation, with his first directive to Miles Teller to fire his father, which he does via fax. All throughout this we keep getting scenes of Michael with his mother, played by Nia Long. The two are typically planted in front of a television and stuffing their faces with ice cream or popcorn. It's here that she provides her typical one liner of "You're special," before the scene ends. Whereas each scene with Joseph serves to paint him more and more a villain, her scenes focus solely on love and nurturing, but again, this is all without the brothers.
La Toya does get a few scenes with Michael, and these serve to show how close the two were, which historically wise is odd, because it's relatively known that Michael was closest with his sister Janet. Well, Janet and his mother. Of course, that would have been difficult to do with Janet's purported decline to be represented in the film.
During this portion, the film also takes a moment to address his desire to get a nose job, and the spreading vitiligo on his arms. The latter would be what prompted him to start wearing his iconic sequin glove, in an attempt to hide it from the public eye. What we don't get is Neverland Ranch, or even so much as a thought from Michael to move out of the family home.
As Michael sets to work on what would become Thriller, we see snippets of video recreations for Thriller, Beat It, and naturally, Motown 25, where he performed Billy Jean, and moonwalked for the first time. Ironically, while my initial fear of the film was that it was going to be nothing more than a recreation of his music videos, these sections fly by so quickly that I actually found myself wishing they showed a bit more. Show us how he conceived the mini movies he envisioned, and his reasoning behind it. We know he made great music videos. Now show us why, but they don't.
Though I don't personally understand why Mike Myers needed to be shoehorned into the film, his role as Walter Yetnikoff does serve a purpose. Walter, who headed CBS at the time, was instrumental in essentially forcing MTV to play Michael's videos by threatening to pull all his other artists if they didn't acquiesce.
Just as you're hoping to see more on the legacy of Michael's Thriller album, you're once again whisked away on a montage, showing Michael as the greatest artist of all time, surrounded in traffic by wall-to-wall people as he stands on a car, at the Grammy's for a fraction of a second holding his armful of awards. The film then pauses again, this time focusing on Joseph's desire to strike while the iron's hot, sending all six brothers on the Victory tour. It's here that we see that Michael doesn't really want to be a part of it, but is ultimately told he's in by his father.
This leads to the infamous Pepsi commercial accident, where we see Michael's hair catch fire, causing the third degree burns which could have potentially killed him. Up to this point, we've seen several scenes where Michael stops at a local children's hospital to visit with terminally ill, or in the case of his most recent accident, burn victims. It's here that we learn of his aversion to taking pain medication, but also where he realizes he's been put on Earth to shine a light through his music. This determines him to commit to the Victory tour and perform with his brothers.
However, the biggest offense in all of that is that for as many times as the film showed us Michael at a hospital, it completely skips one of the biggest moments in music history, We Are The World. Think of all the actor cameos that could have occurred in this scene alone! Sure that may have detracted from the film, it may have even been a costly endeavored. But seriously, how can you paint Michael as this massive humanitarian, and then not even so much as note the biggest humanitarian effort next to Live Aid?
A live performance of Human Nature at the final show leads to Michael announcing that this is also his farewell appearance with his brothers. This is something which doesn't sit well with Joseph, who is in process of making plans for an international leg of the Victory Tour. There is, however, no time to dwell on this, as with Michael walking away backstage, we're suddenly back to the beginning with him clad in his Bad outfit, headed out to Wembley Stadium. The film ends with a recreation of the song, and the words, "His Story Continues" scrawled across the screen. It feels cut short, ending abruptly.
Thoughts and opinion wise, I did enjoy the film. I suppose in a way, it accomplished something great, in that it left me wanting more. Do I feel like we got an in depth telling of the man, the myth, the legend, the King of Pop? No. I don't think this film even knicks the surface in that regard. I know nothing more about Michael after seeing this than I did when I went into it. I dare say that the 1992 made for television film, The Jacksons: An American Dream scratched that surface far deeper than this biopic.
As for Jaafar Jackson, he does a superb job playing his uncle. At times it truly felt like we had Michael back. His mannerisms, his iconic dance moves, and of course the voice were all perfectly in place. Though I'm not a personal advocate for them, I would call his performance Oscar worthy.
Do I want to see a sequel to this film? Yes and no. Yes, if it's going to deep dive into Michael's actual life, and illustrious career. Definitely if they call it, "Jackson", simply because I would want those two DVD's side by side on my shelf. No, if it's going to hone in on the allegations of sexual abuse towards children. First and foremost, I don't believe those allegations and never have. Second, I don't want to see Michael's career being torn down, true, false, or otherwise. That's not how I chose to remember his legacy. I certainly have no interest in seeing his fractured popularity as a result of all of that, nor his death. Frankly, to focus in on all of that would be disrespectful.
A soundtrack compliments the film, and it's available on CD, vinyl, and cassette. While seasoned fans of Michael won't find anything new here, it's a decent jumping off point for newcomers. It features five tracks from the Jackson 5, and nine from Jackson's solo career. Interesting, to me, was that not all of these songs were even featured in the film. In particular, these include the live medley, and performance of Ben from the Jackson's 1981 show. Oddly, while the film features a live version of Human Nature from the Victory tour, the version included on the soundtrack is the studio cut from Thriller.
Basically, what you get here is a compilation of tracks which are already available on other albums and have been for decades. Again, great for newcomers, but nothing special for seasoned fans. With that restated, if someone were to ask me if they should buy this album, my response would be, "Are you a newcomer? Or a Michael Jackson fan?" If the latter, then yes, you should buy this album. If for nothing else, to support it, and add another piece to your collection. If you're a newcomer, no. I think there are far better compilations out there to cut your teeth on, but more importantly, you should own Thriller and Bad, if nothing else.
For better or worse, the Michael biopic is in theaters now, and I definitely recommend seeing it. The film is a site to behold on the big screen. This is definitely one which I'll be adding to my film collection when it's released, probably in multiple formats, much like I already have with the soundtrack. This, much like Thriller, is an iconic moment in time, one which even if a sequel is released, will never repeat. I highly recommend that if you're a fan of Michael Jackson that you be a part of it and create your own memory to look back on. Much like all of his iconic performances, establish a "where were you when..." moment.
For those of you also wanting to get more of Michael in visual form, I highly recommend the following DVD's:
- Michael Jackson's Vision - This is almost the definitive way to watch every video released by Michael Jackson, including those released by The Jacksons.
- Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever - The reunion of all six brothers, and Michael performing Billie Jean, while moonwalking for the first time are iconic reasons enough to pick this up. But on top of that, you get the entire television event.
- Michael Jackson: Video Greatest Hits - HIStory - Really the only thing worth grabbing this for is a montage called, A Kaleidoscop Of Michael Jackson HIStory. Everything else is on Visions.
- Michael Jackson: HIStory On Film Volume II - Essentially a follow-up release to the above, but not titled as such. While most of it is a lesser version of what is already on the Visions DVD set, it does include a few gems that are not; Billie Jean (Motown performance), Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Mix), and Brace Yourself. Granted, for the Billie Jean performance, I still recommend getting the Motown discs.
- We Are The World: The Story Behind The Song: This DVD not only takes you behind the scenes of that iconic night when the song was recorded, but features what would ultimately become the full music video.
- The Wiz: It's a goofy film, for sure, but where else are you going to get Motown legends all on the big screen belting out songs to the backdrop of The Wizard Of Oz?
If you really want to deep dive into Michael further, there's always the DVD's for Michael Jackson: Live At Wembley July 16, 1988, Michael Jackson: Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour, and if you really want to get old school, the VHS's for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and Making Michael Jackson's Thriller.
For those of you content with just hearing a hit or two every now and then, well, there's always Youtube.
Now if only we could get the estate to release Captain Eo on DVD...
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