Brief Story Line
Story focused on the life of Michael Jackson from his childhood years (portrayed by Juliano Krue Valdi) to his adulthood (portrayed by Jaafar Jackson). Michael was the youngest of a band with his older brothers named Jackson 5, formed, trained and managed by their father Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo - The Running Man 2025 remake, Candyman 2021 version etc) who was very hard on them. Meanwhile their mother Katherine (Nia Long - Missing, Big Momma's House etc) was not really approving but she did not have courage to go against Joseph.
After many years of singing with his family, Michael wanted to try becoming solo artist. His decision proved to be a good one as his first album was a huge success and he appointed John Branca (Miles Teller - The Gorge, Spiderhead etc) as his new manager. However the deicision ruined his already strained relationship with Joseph.
So what would happen to Michael? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
My wife and I are part of generation who saw Michael Jackson rose to his stardom and we knew so many of his great songs from the early 1980s to mid 1990s. So seeing his biography film was a no brainer for me, though not so straight forward for my wife as she is OK even if she watch it on streaming service. I myself preferred seeing this in a large screen studio to give more satisfaction. Anyway this movie was entertaining for us as it brought a lot of nostalgic memory from listening to the songs and the process of making them, especially that music video Thriller which brought tears in our eyes. I remembered watching it for the first time back then and already admired the quality of it as if I was seeing a zombie movie.
Through out the film, we were shown Michael's talent which he showed from very early stage but sometimes overshadowed by the very harsh upbringing by his father Joseph. In a way, this movie seemed to focused more on this part and by the time we have reached almost two third of the film, I concluded that it would not have covered his full life. It was quite strange, but my wife and I deduced the movie preferred to show his better side as opposed to the controversies surrounding him, which we were fine. However, I could understand critics displeasure as it did not feel like a complete biography. Nevertheless, fans and audience did not seem to mind as we love watching this side of his life, plus the joy of seeing him "relived".
This film would not have been enjoyable without the amazing performance of Jaafar Jackson (Michael's real life nephew, son of Jermaine) who looked so similar that we thought we were seeing Michael himself. His performance was so extraordinary not only during his day to day activities but also during the singing & dancing. I also admired the ability of Juliano Krue Valdi who together with Jaafar made their acting debut here. In addition to the above names, there were some support cast too, including KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Michael's trusted bodyguard Bill Bray, Larenz Tate (Waist Deep, Power TV series etc) as Berry Gordy music producer of Motown record, Kendrick Sampson (Insecure TV series etc) as Quincy Jones, Jessica Sula (Split, Scream: Resurrection TV series etc) as Michael's sister La Toya, and several others as the remaining Jackson 5 and few other characters. There was even a minor role played by Mike Myers (Austin Powers movies, Shrek films etc) as Walter Yetnikoff president of CBS records who somehow we did not recognize.
To my surprise, the movie was directed by Antoine Fuqua whom I knew for his works in action/thriller movies like The Equalizer 3 and its predecessors, Olympus Has Fallen etc. But after I read more on his bio, apparently he was originally music video director of songs such as Saving Forever For You with Shanice, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World with Prince and many others. He also directed some critically acclaimed documentaries recently which made him qualified for doing this. Unfortunately though, with the poor critics reception, I am not sure he would be getting praise for it here. Btw, the film was written by John Logan whose previous works included Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Aviator etc. Credit should also be given to the make up department who was able to make Jaafar look so much like Michael.
Overall this was an entertaining biopic that should please fans of Michael Jackson looking for the inspiring side of his life and listening to his most popular songs and admiring his great achievements. Obviously if you are audience looking for full biography that covered the good and the bad, you would likely be disappointed. From what I read, due to some legal problems relating to the controversies surrounding him (child abuse case), it was not allowed to be shown and hence resulted to rewrite and reshoot. But if it's not what you are interested in finding out, I am sure you would be entertained by this movie. My wife and I had great time seeing this through its 127 minutes duration (without mid or post end credit scene), though I would have been extra satisfied if I saw it in the very large screen with Dolby Atmos sound effect and more songs from the 1990s as well. However, the final performance to end the movie was absolutely wonderful. So if you are like us, I think you would enjoy this one a lot and probably dancing or moving your feet/body during this movie. Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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