Michael: A Celebration of The King Of Pop
Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, is a depiction of one of the most iconic figures in modern music history. It’s not just a walk through his life, but it throws the viewer into Jackson’s emotional and artistic world.
One of this film’s strongest aspects is its acting. Michael Jackson is portrayed by Jaafar Jackson, his nephew, who delivers an excellent performance, both in terms of his appearance and the way he moves and speaks. He replicates Jackson's mannerisms, from the sharpness of his dance moves to his iconic voice, as well as his stage presence and personality. The acting is done with great precision, recreating Jackson’s most famous concerts and music video performances right down to the smallest detail. It captures the exciting spirit that made Michael Jackson the legend he was. The film sometimes resembles a music video, which is an interesting take when praising his musical talent, but occasionally interferes with the plot.
Along with the spectacle of Michael Jackson’s performances, the biopic also looks into the mental toll of the accusations made against him. Jackson’s childhood was heavily discussed, and the impact of his father's strict supervision over the pop band, The Jackson 5. It’s probably the most striking part of the film, as it gives the audience a sense of the foundation of Jackson’s future struggle with his identity.
This is further complicated by the depiction of Jackson’s life in his later years. The portrayal doesn’t seem to be insensitive to these issues, but it doesn’t highlight them enough. The film briefly touched on the beginning of Jackson’s biggest struggle, his drug addiction. His addiction and his later life aren’t fully represented as the film ends when Jackson is approximately 30 years old, avoiding covering his drug use and legal issues; the film isn’t an accurate look at his life from childhood to death. The movie is aware of media and public perception, and it depicts Jackson in a way that portrays him as the victim. From this perspective, it can be seen as a sensitive tribute, as the film chose not to touch or go into heavy detail on the controversies surrounding Jackson in order to protect his reputation.
Throughout the film, costume and set design played a significant role, recreating some of Jackson’s most memorable outfits and performance sets. The costume design, like the acting, was done with attention to detail. The most iconic outfits looked as if they were straight from his closet, making sure that the fabric, color, and design were a one-for-one copy of what he had worn originally. Not only was the costume one point, so was the set; the thriller music video set looked identical to the original, again showing the amount of time and detail Sony put into making this film.
The pacing of the film is another area that showed inconsistency. The reason is that Jackson’s life was complicated, so it would be difficult to include every detail of his success in one movie. Hence, sometimes it gives the feeling that the movie moves too fast, skipping important feats of his life, while other times the movie drags on too much, especially the performances sequences. It was also disappointing that the film was unable to cover his middle age life, again, due to the inconsistencies of pacing.
Despite these disadvantages, the emotional aspect of the movie works very well. The film does a really good job showing how isolated Jackson had become as he got older, and how he dealt with the difficulties of staying himself when being watched by everyone.
Overall, the film is visually appealing, although it isn’t quite an examination of his life and music career, it certainly is entertaining. The movie feels more like a tribute rather than a biopic, but nonetheless, it’s impossible not to see the visual power of it. Personally, I would highly recommend this movie to someone who’s interested in Jackson’s life or is a big fan of his music, if you're someone who knows nothing about him then this is likely a movie you should skip out on, also considering the length certainly not for someone who can’t stand long movies. Hopefully soon, we will get a sequel that delves deeper into Jackson’s life after the age of 30.