Film Review - Michael (12A)

 You're confident. You're strong. You're beautiful. You're the greatest of all time.

So...  there's been a helluva lot of talk about this one. I might as well have my tuppence worth.

To supply some context - the Michael music biopic has been in development since 2019, around the time Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman made their box office mark. Seasoned Hollywood writer John Logan (Skyfall and The Aviator are two of his most noteworthy scribblings) was attached early, with director Anton Fuqua (Training Day and the Equalizer trilogy) and Michael Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson hopping on board by early 2023. As film projects go, it must have seemed a unique combination of no-brainer and poisoned chalice. Anyway, here we are one week into May 2026 with the film already having scored a slew of damning critical reviews along with $430 million and counting (rapidly) worldwide.

Most critics' main beef with Michael is its refusal to engage with the more troubling aspects of its subject's later years. In fairness, the original screenplay did explicitly reference the criminal allegations that Jackson faced in the '90s; this material had been shot before legal complications resulted in the movie's final act being restructured with the scenes cut. What we're left with is the most straightforward of music biopics charting the Jackson 5's rise to 1960s stardom and Michael's subsequent solo career, taking us as far as the Bad tour of 1988. Thus it ends before all those troubling legal actions and lurid tabloid headlines. The story's clear antagonist is family patriarch Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo), whose managerial strategies are portrayed as tyrannical towards the 5 and downright abusive towards 'Little Michael'. The singer's dramatic arc is, therefore, that of the talented youngster striving for his own freedom - creative and otherwise - from his father's cruelties. A classic tale of triumph over adversity.

Any Jackson biography was going to have to make a basic call - between a film that told a genuinely investigative story about a troubled and tragic showbiz figure and one that toed the line for the family estate and therefore was granted access to all the songs. Conceivably there could have been a more nuanced version of this Michael, one that at least hinted at the divisive celebrity Jackson would become. Instead, we have an air-brushed take on his rise to global icon status, as slickly produced as you'd expect from the talent involved but presenting the central character in terms that seem unfeasibly glowing. Believe this film, and the most controversial aspect of the guy's life was an ill-advised Pepsi sponsorship deal.

Here's the catch... However cynical I'm tempted to be about aspects of the production - the gloss and the pandering and the lack of psychological insight - when it's being what it fundamentally is, a musical celebration, Michael is massively, infectiously entertaining. When Jafaar Jackson is moonwalking his rhinestone-encrusted socks off, channelling his mega-famous uncle's on-stage physicality, and radiating that near-impossible charisma, frankly for me it's the 1980s again. It's like everything grim that was to follow (whatever the truth behind the darkest accusations levelled at the star) hasn't happened yet, and the world is a more fun place because of Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough and the Thriller album. Young actor Juliano Valdi provides a great portrayal of the Rockin' Robin years, while Jafaar pretty much is the older version (in all but voice - as with Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, some vocal performances are just too distinctive to be mimicked). The recreation of stage performances and video shoots are sensationally good, and it's in those melodic, hyper-choreographed moments that the movie - well - sings.

So colour me torn. The cinephile in me wanted something grittier and more probing and felt uncomfortable at the film's more fawning elements. But the person who lived through the Thriller and Bad years (Bad in the good sense) kept getting swept away on moments that recalled staying up late to watch ground-breaking music videos and dancing at school discos to one song while nursing teenage heartbreak to another. It's a whole different level of nostalgia, I guess - not just for a different musical era, but for a more innocent time when Michael Jackson seemed to be helping heal the world. Ah, to be that naive again...

Memorable Moment: If they say why? (Why?) Why? (Why?) Tell 'em that it's human nature.

Ed's Verdict: 7/10. Lower in the more saccharine moments, higher when the music's playing. What can I say? Those scenes made me feel 16 again. It's happy, but - one way or another - it's very, very sad.