“Michael” Is Good… But Underwhelming

Last night, I went to see one of my most anticipated movies of the year, Michael.

Obviously, it’s the biopic of Michael Jackson, starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson playing "The King of Pop".

While I did have a good experience watching it, and would recommend going to see it, especially in theatres, because that’s where I think it plays best, I did find it quite underwhelming.

I’m not some movie critic. I’m just a guy who likes watching movies, going to the theatre, and enjoying myself. And, just wanted to share some of my thoughts and interpretations after seeing it.

Let's start with some positives.

Number one, if you like Michael Jackson’s music in any way, go watch this movie. The way Jaafar Jakcson was able to play his uncle was absurdly good. The voice, the dance moves, everything. Jaafar did a great job portraying his uncle in his own way without it feeling like a straight-up impersonation.

Second, while Jaafar Jackson was great, potentially an even bigger standout was Colman Domingo, who played Joseph Jackson, Michael's father.

The fact that he comes across as so unlikable in such a quick manner, just shows how good of a job he did in the role.

Personally, I would have liked to maybe see a bit more balance, because it's hard for me to believe someone was that big of an asshole 24/7 to his kids. But given what we know about the emotional and physical abuse in that household, especially toward Michael, Domingo did an excellent job portraying a truly menacing figure with not many redeeming qualities. With the material he was given, I thought he was superb, and very well could see an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor around awards season next year.

Another positive, the music, of course, was excellent. There were multiple moments where I caught myself nodding along in my seat because I was watching Michael Jackson’s greatest hits play out on screen. Whether it was Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Beat It, Billie Jean, Thriller, Bad, you name it.

Everything just oozed his aura, and it reminded you why his music has had such a lasting impact. Even decades later, it’s still incredibly catchy, and his voice was just second to none.

However, my biggest problems with this movie is that there was no real flow to it and I didn’t feel like I learned anything new about Michael. There were moments that just kind of appeared out of nowhere for no real purpose.

Minor spoilers here, but things like him suddenly getting a nose job, or a quick scene introducing Bubbles the chimpanzee, didn’t feel connected. It almost felt like fan service at times.

Not to mention, for a movie that tried to show how much family meant to Michael, we don’t really see many relationships outside of his parents. Even the Jackson brothers, who he was literally in a band with, barely have any real scenes. And his sisters are hardly in it at all. Where was Janet Jackson?

I wanted them to dive deeper. I wanted to learn more about Michael as a person. We hear throughout the movie that he left The Jackson 5 because he felt he needed space to be more creative, but we never really see that process.

We don’t get much insight into how some of hus greatest hits came together, where the ideas came from, or why he made certain artistic choices. There are hints about why he became more of a recluse as he got older, which was mainly due to his fame at such a young age, but there’s very little real development.

For the most part, I didn’t feel like I learned much that I didn’t already know. For example, I would’ve loved to see more about the mental and physical toll of the Pepsi fire accident. That moment just kind of happens, and then suddenly we’re jumping ahead to him saying he’s ready to go back on tour. There’s no real sense of time passing, no deep look into the recovery process, or how that moment truly impacted him long-term, something people who were close to him have talked about in the past.

And while the movie does feel big in some scenes, we’re talking about Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, the biggest superstar in the world at the time, maybe even the biggest of the last 50 years, and somehow, I still feel like they made the movie feel small for someone who is that famous. I just feel like they could’ve made it way more grand or feel more special than they did.

So like I said, I would still recommend seeing this movie. The performances, especially from Jaafar Jackson and Colman Domingo are excellent, and even the actor who played Michael as a kid, Juliano Valdi was great. And when it comes to the music, it absolutely delivers. I even found myself playing his songs on the way home because of how much I enjoyed that aspect of it.

But overall, it felt more like a Michael Jackson greatest hits movie than a true deep-dive biopic. When I watch these kinds of films, I want to understand the person behind the music, and how they became who they were. And in that sense, this one just didn’t fully deliver for me.

I’m not a movie critic, but that was my experience, and those are some of the things I would’ve liked to see them improve on.