Mixed Reactions to the Michael Jackson Biopic

Usually, I walk out of a movie with a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to say about it. Sure, as I have time to think things over that can change a little, but whether it’s going to be a pan, a rave, or something in between has already been more or less set by the time I’m leaving the theater. Every now and then though, a movie like Michael comes along that leaves me feeling a little bit torn. There are certainly plenty of good things I can say about it, but I hesitate to call it a good movie. At times it even feels like it’s kind of a bad one. And yet, I couldn’t help but like it. Undoubtedly that is at least a little bit due to how enjoyable the many Michael Jackson songs featured here are, but whatever the reason, as the credits began to roll (and a young man in the audience walked to the front of the theater to dance along), I knew that I had enjoyed the experience of Michael much more than I had expected and despite its myriad flaws.

For as much as Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson) repeatedly pushed creative boundaries in his art, screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall, Alien: Covenant) here follows the standard music biopic formula pretty much to a tee, running us through a sort of “greatest hits” collection of moments from Michael’s career. Beginning at the point where his father Joseph (Colman Domingo) has already been pushing his sons to perform as the Jackson 5 and running up through the launch of his tour in support of Bad, the movie covers a lot of ground, which means almost nothing is explored in any depth. Still, director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) has managed to so convincingly replicate so many memorable moments that it’s hard not to be taken in by the pleasure of experiencing them again, even if they are usually devoid of any deeper contextualization that might have lent them more heft.

Casting Michael’s real-life nephew Jaafar in the title role proves to be a stroke of genius. He nails every aspect of the pop icon’s behavior and often looks so much like him that one can almost forget this isn’t documentary footage. Nia Long, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, and Miles Teller respectively do good work as his mother, chief of security, and lawyer respectively, portraying the trio as the only real “friends” the singer ever had. Domingo plays Joseph with a leering campiness that somehow feels both right and wrong simultaneously. His domineering presence lingers over nearly every moment of Jackson’s life, threatening to rob the joy from moments of victory and even sometimes literally lurking in the shadows like a horror movie villain.

I’ve certainly enjoyed watching bad movies before, but it’s typically because they were so bad that they managed to become unintentional comedies. There are a few things here that border on that, but by and large this is too competently made for such an outcome. Instead, Michael is a by-the-numbers biopic that paints its lead character in such a glowing light it’s almost as if they intend to lobby him for sainthood. Every now and then it feints towards having something interesting to say, in particular about the high cost of growing up famous, but it refuses to spend enough time on any one moment to accidentally let an opinion form. The whole thing winds up feeling like a glossy but somewhat hollow two-hour music video, but it turns out that when the music is this good, that’s kind of enough. If you’ve ever been a fan of Michael Jackson, you are guaranteed to have a good time with this. ★★★