Michael

This weekend, Michael, the new Michael Jackson biopic, releases in theaters. Michael tells the story of his rise from his start in the Jackson 5 to his Bad tour in 1988. I am a fan of Michael Jackson’s music, and at this point, he is the only major artist not to have a biopic, so I was pretty excited to see this film.

I thought that this film was good but not great. There are some pretty good highs to it. Jamar Jackson was amazing as Michael Jackson. He does a perfect portrayal of the character, where it actually feels like the persona of Michael Jackson and not just an impersonation. He is able to portray that soft-spoken nature and voice as well as the stage confidence so well. He also totally nails the voice of Michael Jackson. He even nails the appearance, though I think later on it was CGI. What makes his performance even cooler is that he was a first-time actor and the nephew of Michael Jackson. Of course, one of the novelties of a movie like this is getting to see performances of an artist’s best song, and this movie is no exception to that. It is a lot of fun to see a lot of Jackson 5 songs, Billie Jean, Thriller, and so many others performed on screen. Between that and the performance, this movie will be a real crowd-pleaser. I also thought that the movie did a good job portraying some of the conflicts and struggles of Michael Jackson. You see him having to work through the abusive relationship with his father and the desire to go out on his own and make his own voice. It also finds the line of showing his loneliness and lack of ability to fit in, even though everybody knows him. You get the underdog feeling from him even though he is the most popular person in the world.

The biggest issue I had with this film is that it feels more like a highlight reel of his career than a compelling movie. Every 10 minutes jumps to a new year with a new major event. There is just so much to cover and not enough time to do it. The movie also feels a bit neutered. It has superficially fun moments in it, but lacks more of the depth and conflict that a lot of other biopics have. The brothers also feel more like background props than major parts of his career, and I felt that the movie could have explored them a bit more. The movie should’ve been 2.5 hours instead of just over 2.

Overall, this is a very fun biopic that captures the energy of Michael Jackson but lacks the depth of other stories. The best way to describe this movie is as a celebration of his career. It highlights all of the good stuff while omitting more of the controversies, depth, and struggles. If that works for you, you will have a lot of fun with this movie, and ultimately, that worked for me.

Score:7.5/10 Grade: B Recommendation: Check it out. A Must see for Michael Jackson fans

Sarah’s Score: 4/5 Sparkly Gloves