Review | ‘Michael’ is ‘Bad!’
Courtesy of Lionsgate
Michael Jackson, by all modern standards, is the greatest musical artist of all time. The star has been more myth than man since he started his global reign over the music industry. It’s hard to bring anything new to the discussion of his momentous musical, cultural and industrial influence, without beginning to pick at the peeling corners of his legacy.
And that’s why “Michael,” the recent Michael Jackson biopic, fell flat.
“Michael” summarized the star’s career, from his debut with The Jackson 5 up through the “Bad” concert tour. Given how unique Michael Jackson is, it was impressive how outstandingly normal his biopic was. It was a paint-by-number approach to the Renaissance masterpiece of Jackson’s story.
Its loyalty to Jackson’s visual narrative was admirable, fulfilling the expected mission statement of fun factoids, the behind-the-scenes of “Thriller” and most importantly, a great cast. Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s own nephew, performed an honorable tribute to his uncle, and the skilled Colman Domingo played Michael’s father, Joseph Jackson.
But beyond the visual homage that the film gave, it seemed afraid to dig deeper into any facts beyond Jackson’s Wikipedia page. For that reason, “Michael” barely scratched away any of the glitter on Jackson’s golden legacy.
The film touched lightly on personal issues of his self image and loneliness, but ultimately focused on his struggle towards a solo music career. The primary antagonist of the film was Michael’s talent manager and abusive father, Joseph Jackson. The central conflict was the severe psychological and physical bullying that Michael endured from his father, who fought tooth and nail to keep Michael’s image tethered to his brothers for his own fiscal gain and personal glory.
But the film’s central emotional conflict often fell short of its dark reality. Michael was portrayed as a fairy-tale princess, complete with a chimpanzee as a sidekick, locked up in his multimillion-dollar tower by the evil Jackson patriarch, who drained him of his talents and assets.
The film relied on the audience’s preconceived understanding of their family dynamics for most of its emotional push-and-pull. Throughout the film, the only thing that kept Michael tied to The Jackson 5, besides the abuse from his father, was his supposed emotional ties to his brothers — who he spoke to maybe thrice throughout the runtime.
For how focused the film was on Michael’s loyalty to his brothers, he sure didn’t seem to like them all that much. The emotional well of brotherly relationships was left entirely untapped.
Most of Michael’s other problems were presented and solved within the same scene. Beyond the implications of his struggle with self-image, the only racial pushback against his career was solved in under five minutes, in a phone call from one white man to another.
In some ways, it might’ve been cathartic for fans to witness Michael’s unstoppable star power blasting its way to the top of the charts without any industrial pushback. While this might’ve been an accurate portrayal, the film made no effort to humanize Michael in the way biopics usually shoot for.
Musically, everything simply fell into place for Michael, with the “Thriller” tracklist printed in perfect handwriting on sticky notes and thumbtacked into place on a corkboard. Every time the familiar opening tracks started, I half-expected Michael to jump up and go: “Why, I think I feel a song coming on!”
While the film did a good job of portraying our preconceived notions of Michael as a superstar, it failed to put us in his perspective. The single shot that accomplished this came backstage after a concert, with a close-up of Michael tugging on his single, bejeweled glove. But beyond the intimacy of that one shot, it felt like we were simply watching Michael in the same way that we’ve watched him our whole lives.
The film ended on a positive note, at the height of Michael’s career. The final words of the film simply read: “And his story continues.”
Before the film’s premiere, many wondered if the subject material would dare explore Michael’s infamous struggle with substance abuse and fame, or even the unavoidable controversies surrounding his legacy.
Perhaps exploring the latter half of Michael’s life would have brought more nuance to the pop star’s image. But omitting these complexities allowed “Michael” to remain as its creators intended: a feel-good, sing-along concert film that continues to hold Michael Jackson to the standard of his own legacy.
