Michael Review
Question: When all those critics were watching the early previews for Michael, were they watching the same movie as the rest of us? Because if they were, then I don’t understand why they’re giving it such negative reviews just because it couldn’t discuss every aspect of his life, good or bad. It still managed to slap so hard that by the end of it, I had to resist the urge to get up and dance!
In life and in death, Michael Jackson was one of the most famous and influential people the world has ever known. The majority of the human population either knows about him or are his fans. So when his family and the people who made Bohemian Rhapsody teamed up to make a biopic about him, it was pretty much a given that the movie was going to sell well. Now, it’s not a perfect film, and it only manages to cover part of Michael’s colorful and controversial life. But you know what? Moviegoers are loving it!
Cause he was Bad, bad, bad!
Produced by Lionsgate with the assistance of the Jackson family, Michael tells the life story of the late, legendary king of pop. To be more accurate, though, it tells the story of the first half of Michael’s life, covering his childhood with the Jackson 5 and ending with his Bad tour. Which also means that it never covers all of the controversy about the latter half of his life. Like the allegations with him and kids, his changing appearance, or the use of painkillers that would ultimately kill him. However, from what I hear, it’s not that Michael didn’t want to cover those topics.
Firstly, Michael Jackson’s entire life, from beginning to end, was colorful and storied. That’s because he spent the majority of it continuously in the spotlight. If they really wanted to cover everything from his tome in a band with his brothers to Neverland Ranch and his funeral, they wouldn’t be able to fit into a single movie. The people who made the film probably had to pick and choose the best aspects of his life. The parts that his family would want everyone to remember past the controversy.
Secondly, there are parts of his life that the Michael film legally cannot cover. As part of the settlement to the 1993 allegations, no one is allowed to dramatize them. Ergo, the film people had to axe any mention of it and retool the ending. If someone forgot to mention that or didn’t find that out, that’s on them!
But what the parts of Michael’s life that the film does cover? How accurate are they to the late singer’s life? Again, it’s hard to say.
No Biopic will be wholly Accurate
When it comes to adapting the life story of a celebrity to film, it’s never going to be a hundred percent accurate. Some things have to be retooled or dramatized for the sake of telling a coherent plot. In the case of the Michael Jackson biopic, the overarching plot is the conflict between Michael and his father, Joe Jackson. Joe was the one who pushed his kids into becoming the musical dynasty that it is today. But as Michael told the world and as the film depicts, Joe was a strict and overbearing father that the singer seemed deeply afraid of. We even see the man put belt to ass on kid Michael at one point! Between that and making fun of his nose, is it any wonder why Michael became who he was when he grew up?
It’s well documented that Michael Jackson never got to enjoy a real childhood growing up, with a lot of people believing this is why he was so eccentric and childlike. He identified more with kids than he did adults, and to be fair to him, I get it. I’m one of those people who refuses to give up on my childhood and doesn’t see it as a bad thing. It’s why I still watch cartoons and buy action figures and video games. And thankfully, more people are seeing keeping your childhood alive as a good thing.
But if there’s one controversy of Michael’s life that the film accurately captures, it’s how focused he was on his childhood. Hence why he had so many exotic pets and why his room was filled with toys and pictures of Disney. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it can be a little much at times.
The Pepsi Incident Really Moved Me
It all comes to a head with the infamous Pepsi commercial. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but the film depicts Michael being forced into it and the resulting tour by his dad, culminating in the accident that set his head on fire. If it hadn’t been for his own dance skills or the quick thinking of others, he would’ve died. In a way, it did kill him, because that’s how he got on the painkiller addiction that led to his death.
Again, I don’t know how accurate this was, but it doesn’t paint Joe as father of the year. Even ignoring that, though, it’s clear that the movie wants audiences to blame him for the problems his son would have that would ultimately kill him. But all of that feels moot in the face of the best part of this film: Jaafar Jackson.
Jaafar Jackson ain’t no Nepo Baby!
When people learned that Michael would be played by his own nephew, who is himself a rising star as a singer, they called nepotism. But as Jaafar and the people behind the film have revealed, they didn’t just hand him the role of his uncle. There was a years-long process of auditioning thousands of people. Actors, impersonators, and dancers were probably asked to try out, with Jafaar being just one. Then, after being chosen, he would have to spend years learning how to master his late uncle’s dance moves as well as his voice and mannerisms to the point where he could make people believe that he was his uncle. Maybe nepotism was part of why he was cast, but that only got his foot in the door. The rest of it? That was all him, and the results were worth it.
From the moment you see Jafaar start playing his uncle, you start to forget that this isn’t actually Michael you’re watching. From the way he speaks and sings to the way he dresses to the legendary dance choreography, he has his uncle down flat. Granted, they did mix his voice with Michael’s vocals at times, but he still did the heavy lifting. And it shows. By the time we got to the grand finale with the Bad Tour, I had forgotten that we weren’t watching the actual Michael Jackson, and so did the audience. I had to consciously stop myself from getting up and dancing, and as soon as the credits rolled, I saw others doing the same. And that was just my theater. There are already clips of moviegoers dancing to the movie. If there is an afterlife, I hope Michael is smiling proud at his nephew, because he did him justice.
It’s not just the fans, either. Even the harshest of critics are praising Jaafar’s performance of his late uncle, and I see that as a very good thing. He’s already started his own music career, but if the movie continues to see success, this could help kick it into high gear, giving us a star for the next generation of the Jackson family. And this time, it will be one who can avoid the pitfalls of his uncle.
Michael isn’t a Perfect Film, but Neither was the King of Pop
So, is the Michael biopic perfect? No it isn’t. It glosses over a lot of stuff to paint the best image possible of Michael Jackson. Even his own daughter says that it’s full of lies and inaccuracies, so it’s far from perfect. Not to mention how it had to sidestep the controversies of his later life to make him look like a saint. But the box office numbers don’t lie: moviegoers are loving the movie. They’re dressing up in his iconic outfits and doing his dances at screenings. They’re enjoying themselves like Michael is still with us!
When Michael was alive, his fan base made up a large part of the total human population. He got two notorious street gangs to work together on his music video for “Beat It.” “Thriller” is the most popular music album in history. Drug lords in Rio turned the neighborhood where he filmed his controversial song “They don’t care about us” into the safest place in the world for him. He was an inspiration for the modern K-Pop industry! He brought people from all over the world together with the power of his music and made it a better place. That has to count for something, and even if it is sanitized, I think Michael was trying it’s best to remind us of all the good he did for the world. Maybe I think that because I want to see the best in people, and think that what matters is if the good in one’s life outweighs the bad. I like it, the fans like it, and if other critics can’t see that, that’s their decision.
