If there was ever a biopic film that I was highly anticipating, it would be this one. Michael is a biopic that follows the journey of the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, with the film’s events mainly covering his rise to stardom and undoubtedly the most essential time period of his career. (The Jackson 5 era to the beginning of the Bad era.) Besides Michael’s rise to fame, however, the film cleverly used this particular time period to tell the story of Michael trying to gain physical and creative independence from his infamous father and long time manager, Joe Jackson, who serves as the film’s antagonist and gave the film a narrative for audiences to follow. (I am definitely a fan of the biopics that actually tell an interesting story and aren’t just history lessons.) Of course, seeing that this is the King of Pop we’re talking about, this film obviously had an amazing soundtrack. From the very best of the Jackson 5 to the most essential tracks from his albums Off The Wall and Thriller, my whole theater was jamming whenever one of these tunes played. (The music fan in me had a blast watching this film, and seeing cameos from musical icons such as the founder of Motown, Berry Gordy, to my favorite music producer of all time, Quincy Jones, filled me with the same excitement as a Marvel movie!) The songs themselves are accompanied by incredible performances from the entire cast. Between Juliano Valdi and Jaafar Jackson playing young and old Michael respectively, the King of Pop’s essence was fully realized with performances that not only captured his captivating stage presence, recreating iconic moments from his career, but also his childlike innocence and love all living things. I can’t commend these actors enough. (Coleman Domingo also played the antagonistic Joe Jackson incredibly.) Now, the music fan in me personally very much enjoyed the film. However, after taking some time to sit with this movie for a few days after watching it, there were some aspects this film had that held it back from being as great as it could’ve been. I thought that Michael was a little too fast paced for my liking at some points. Besides featuring some minor historical inaccuracies, mostly involving key figures missing from Michael’s life such as Janet Jackson or Diana Ross, I just overall wish that the film was longer and served as more of a character study, really diving deeper into the moments in between his hits like other musical biopics I’ve seen. With a Part Two on the way, this definitely felt like a Part One, but I still had a fantastic time watching this film. All narrative hang ups aside, if you’re a Michael Jackson fan such as myself who is just looking to have a good time jamming to your favorite hits from the King of Pop, with Oscar worthy performances to accompany them, you are absolutely going to love this movie. Score: 8/10
Noah Robinson 