Jaafar may be smooth, but this movie is absolutely criminal.
Released in theaters globally on Friday, April 24, “Michael” is director Antoine Fuqua’s biographical motion picture on the life of Michael Jackson. Starring Michael’s nephew and Jermaine Jackson’s son Jaafar Jackson as the titular character, the film focuses on Michael’s rough upbringing in Gary, Indiana, his rise to the top as the face of The Jackson 5 and his desire to achieve greatness as a soloist away from his brothers. “Michael” also details the hardships faced during Michael’s life — namely, his rhinoplasty, struggles with vitiligo, the fractured relationship with his father Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo) and hints at his eventual struggles with drug usage during the Pepsi burn incident.
While this may sound like a cohesive recollection of events, “Michael” struggles to deliver; instead, the film presents an extremely surface-level exploration of Michael’s struggles, coming across as two hours worth of Michael glaze. Michael is positioned constantly by Fuqua as some sort of underdog figure through the depiction of Michael as a fairytale and stuffed-animal-loving child who gets put into a position of power out of his own volition. While it’s undoubtedly heartwarming to see Michael’s pride in his inner child, Black identity and other raw aspects of his musicianship, the lack of in-depth exploration into these topics makes estate-sponsored “Michael” come across as terribly inauthentic.
The movie also struggles greatly with pacing and expository development. While “Michael” puts forth cinematic and auditory greatness during Michael’s performances, like The Jackson 5’s final show at Dodger Stadium, it doesn’t put in that same effort and care in developing not even just titular character Michael, but any character at all. The Jackson clan goes from playing community gigs to recording in studios with industry executives in the span of what feels like 15 minutes. The film seems more focused on hitting benchmarks with Michael’s albums — and while this does grant viewers a few sporadic minutes of musical greatness with classic tracks like “Bad” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” it comes across as rudimentary.
What “Michael” would expectedly do best is excel in its visuals, but the film still struggles with framing shots and visual quality. Shots of Michael during performances look beautiful and are expertly lit and designed, but the film strangely incorporates clips that showcase Michael’s back or lose focus on Michael. At one of the gigs in the first half of the film, “Michael” plays unfocused shots of the audience throwing coins and dice, and at other times, the tops of heads are cut off, making for awkwardly posed shots. The abundance of clips showing emotional, passionate fans screaming in the crowds gets old fast, but it does add a bit of comedic relief. The backlighting when Michael recruits gang members for the “Beat It” music video is diabolically bright and artificial, perhaps in tandem with Fuqua’s attempts at depicting Michael as some sort of misunderstood savior.
Part of the film that deserves its flowers is the quality of its actors — namely, Jaafar, who played adult Michael. Jaafar’s talents in dance, voice and Michael’s mannerisms make it clear that he’s put in effort — and as put by La Toya Jackson, Jaafar makes it easy to believe that Michael has somehow returned. Domingo skillfully delivers on part of playing greedy Joseph, with a performance that’s sure to leave audiences infuriated. While Domingo’s chemistry with Nia Long, who played Michael’s mom Katherine Jackson, was a bit awkward to watch at times, Long shines in her own right as one of Michael’s secret supporters. Domingo’s standout moments are when Joseph finds out that he’s been fired as Michael’s manager, and when Michael announces at Dodger Stadium that the show would be The Jackson 5’s last — Joseph’s look of utter confusion, which has now been memed by audiences, is a fitting end.
“Michael” does well in its auditory experience too, despite tracks being sung by Michael and lip-synced by Jaafar and young Michael Juliano Valdi. The quality is clear, and lip-syncing is realistic. The film adds special effects to audio based on what the focus of the scene is — whether with fans, on the radio or at the studio, audio is expertly designed to sound just like what it would sound like in the moment. Even though “Michael” does occasionally simply layer Michael’s songs as background tracks, incorporating some music to match what’s going on in the moment does show the film’s attention to auditory detail.
While somewhat disappointing in terms of exposition and character development, “Michael” offers viewers a palatable experience as a feel-good, energetic film. However, here’s to hoping that the upcoming second half is a bit more of a thriller.
RATING: 2/5
