By George & Josh Bate
After the lives of Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John were all adapted for the big screen in recent years, it was only a matter of time before the King of Pop received the music biopic treatment. Michael, from director Antoine Fuqua, promises to shine a spotlight on one of the greatest musical artists of all time by delving into his background and showcasing how he became the biggest star in the world. Unfortunately, Michael disappoints as an extraordinarily sanitized, overly audience-friendly music biopic that makes Bohemian Rhapsody look like a complex, nuanced character study.
Michael follows the life of Michael Jackson, spanning from his early days as a member of the Jackson 5 to his solo career up until the late 1980s. Forced into the life of an entertainer by his controlling father Joseph (Colman Domingo), Michael helps propel the music group composed of himself and his brothers to unexpected heights before rebelling from his father’s wishes to pursue a career of his own.
In discussing his work on the film’s screenplay a few years ago, writer John Logan expressed a desire to “humanize but not sanitize and present the most compelling, unbiased story.” Whether Logan’s script was uprooted during production or he was simply misleading the audience regarding the authenticity of his screenplay, one thing is clear – Michael neither humanizes nor tells an unbiased story, instead unfolding, despite Logan’s intentions, as a frustratingly sanitized biopic.
With the dramatic depth of a Wikipedia article, Michael softly introduces but then immediately relegates to the background fascinating themes related to an undoubtedly complex icon of pop culture. The film touches on Jackson’s loneliness, insecurities regarding his body image, and fixation on childhood, only to show resounding disinterest in exploring these themes in even the most superficial of ways. Instead, Fuqua’s film lands on a single and overly simplistic emotional arc for its protagonist to work through – the relationship with his overbearing father and desire to break free from the family unit. There is certainly a cohesive throughline related to this theme, but its surgical and rather reductive focus on Michael’s struggle with his father leaves little room to focus on much else.
In focusing so unwaveringly on Michael’s conflict with his father, Fuqua’s film is unwilling to even remotely explore the flaws, insecurities, and vulnerabilities of its protagonist. Jackson is portrayed in the film as a virtually infallible figure, one whose sole fault (if it can even be termed as such) is that he has difficulty creating boundaries with his domineering father. As a result, Logan’s aim to “humanize” Michael Jackson goes entirely awry. To humanize Michael Jackson would be to approach all facets of his complex background and personality, not to sugar coat to excess and foster an entirely unrelatable shell of a protagonist.
Failing to humanize Jackson prevents Michael from ever truly examining the King of Pop’s psychological inner-workings. Intermittently throughout the film, Jackson mentions that he wants to be the biggest star in the world and forge a career independent of his brothers and father. But never does the film get inside Jackson’s head enough to explain why he’s driven so relentlessly to pursue such goals. What about his upbringing makes him want to be the biggest star in the world? What is it about his father’s overbearing nature that troubles him so much? How does he reconcile the desire to pursue a solo career with his love for his brothers? The film appears entirely disinterested in answering these questions and instead is content to merely tell (rather than show and truly explore) the audience, through rather heavy-handed dialogue, what motivates Jackson.
The reluctance to develop Jackson as a fleshed-out character leaves lead actor Jafaar Jackson disappointingly little to do other than impersonate the King of Pop (which he does superbly well). Jafaar, who is the real life nephew of Michael Jackson, bears an uncanny resemblance to his uncle and nails Michael’s body language, facial expressions, voice, and dance moves. Jafaar meticulously embodies Michael, to such an extent that one’s left saddened by the fact that such a dedicated and detail-oriented performance is relegated to such a superficial and audience-friendly film.
For as sanitized as it is, however, Michael admittedly has an infectious rhythm to it, largely carried by the singer’s myriad of iconic hits. Alongside Harry Yoon, John Ottman (who received an Academy Award for editing Bohemian Rhapsody) ensures that the biopic moves at a clip and, with the exception of a tedious last 15 minutes, prevents the film from falling into a lull. The musical set-pieces, of which the film is filled to the brim with, are superbly choreographed, directed, and performed and will undoubtedly get audiences to bop their heads and shake their legs. For many, this will be enough to render Michael a satisfying and rewarding watch, but those desiring a more nuanced glimpse into the King of Pop’s life (or even those who expect to be moved in a manner that the flawed Bohemian Rhapsody elicited) won’t be moonwalking out of the theater.
VERDICT: 4/10
Michael is an extraordinarily sanitized, overly audience-friendly music biopic that makes Bohemian Rhapsody look like a complex, nuanced character study. With the dramatic depth of a Wikipedia article, Antoine Fuqua’s film introduces but fails to even remotely explore fascinating aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, including his loneliness, body image issues, and fixation on childhood. The story never offers an understanding of what drives Michael Jackson to become the King of Pop and have a career beyond his family, and is far more interested in playing it safe and playing the hits (which are superbly recreated). Jafaar Jackson bears an uncanny resemblance to MJ and nails the body language and voice of the King of Pop, but he’s given disappointing little dramatic work to do by a screenplay that paints him as an infallible protagonist. An excellent impersonation from Jafaar and iconic songs can’t save this biopic from feeling like the product of a creative team terrified to approach even the most vulnerable or difficult aspects of its complex lead character’s life.