I was a huge fan of Michael Jackson when I was a kid. His music was everywhere, which makes sense because for a stretch, he was just cranking out hit after hit. But once my music tastes changed, he kind of fell off my radar. Aside from the scandals that followed him later in life, I went into Michael pretty agnostic about the whole thing.
But director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan know how to make a crowd-pleaser, and they absolutely deliver one here.
It’s kind of fitting that the first words we hear in the film come from Joe Jackson, played by the always great Colman Domingo. He’s not the star, that belongs to Jackson’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson as Michael, but his presence is felt throughout the entire movie, even when he’s not on screen. That’s a testament to how strong Domingo is in the role.
The film opens with Joseph pulling the kids together for an impromptu rehearsal; Marlon, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and, of course, Michael, played as a child by Juliano Valdi, who is a true find. Casting director Victoria Thomas absolutely nailed it here. He’s all heart, soul, and emotion, and if we didn’t buy him as young Michael, the whole thing could have fallen apart pretty quickly.
Anyway, the kids aren’t into it. It’s late, they’re hungry, and they’d rather be doing literally anything else. But Joseph isn’t having it. This is where we first see his anger and control, and it’s pretty unsettling. You get the sense this isn’t new behavior.
Eventually, all that hard work pays off, and they get signed to Motown. From there, the film jumps ahead to Michael as a teenager, still very much under his father’s thumb. Now we start to see more of the personality most of us recognize, the smile, the playfulness, and, of course, that voice.
As he begins work on his first solo album away from his brothers, it becomes clear that what he really wants is creative control. That leads into Thriller… and we all know how that story goes. It becomes the biggest album in history, and suddenly he’s the biggest star in the world. And yet, somehow, his father’s shadow is still hanging over everything.
Jaafar Jackson feels like he’s straight-up channeling MJ at times, and he’s fantastic. And Domingo could have easily gone over the top with Joe Jackson, but instead, he gives you a fully realized, three-dimensional character. You don’t like him, not even a little, but you understand him. And when he finally gets his comeuppance, it’s a nice capper.
One of the only real knocks against the movie is how much it puts Michael on a pedestal. He’s basically portrayed as flawless from start to finish. The film spans decades, and there’s never really a moment where he messes up or acts selfishly. It doesn’t need to dive into controversy but giving him some kind of flaw would have gone a long way for me.
I also want to mention KeiLyn Durrel Jones, who plays Michael’s bodyguard, Bill. He’s always there watching, scanning and protecting. He’s like this oddly calming presence throughout the film.
Still, it’s hard to deny how effective Michael is as a big, crowd-pleasing biopic. The performances are strong, the music obviously is fantastic, and Fuqua keeps things moving at a pace that never really drags.
