‘Michael’: An Empty Look Into A Vibrant Star
The musical biopic genre has had a rocky reputation as of late. Ever since the release of the Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018 and the film’s subsequent box office success, the genre has fallen into same old cliches every time. Because of its PG-13 rating, Bohemian Rhapsody was a sanitized and simplified version of the life story of an incredibly prolific and provocative artist. It played more like a greatest hits recreation rather than a film with a strong, emotional core that interrogates the character of its subject. Since then, other musical biopics have had their time in the spotlight. Films like A Complete Unknown and Springsteen: Deliver me From Nowhere continuing this trend of safe, marketable stories about legendary figures with the sole purpose of box office success. Other musical biopics however, such as Rocketman, Elvis and Better Man have attempted to put a new spin on this tired formula. In each case, an auteur’s vision, a mature R-rating and showstopping musical sequences have brought them critical acclaim but not necessarily box office success.
This brings us to arguably the most significant musical biopic of to date, Michael. A film about the King of Pop himself, a man with such a decorated career and fascinating life, full of drama. A film exploring the core of this legend, his struggles, his achievements and his moral fibre would surely make for one hell of a film. Adding to that is his incredible music which would make for excellent sequences. So, does the film live up to the legend or does it tread the safe and soulless road of Bohemian Rhapsody? It has a PG-13 rating, so it’s safe to say the latter.
Michael is a biographical musical film which premiered on Friday, April 10, and was released in cinemas on Friday, April 24. The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua, most well-known for his 2001 crime thriller Training Day with a screenplay by John Logan. The film stars Jafaar Jackson as Michael Jackson and the film follows his early life, from his time as a member of the Jackson 5 in the 1960s to the Bad World Tour in the late 1980s. The film also stars Coleman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier and Joseph David-Jones in supporting roles.
The film’s plot is predictable to an absolute fault. Every biopic trope is present and accounted for. The film opens with the end, as many musical biopics do, before flashing back to the past. The backstory and childhood days of the Jackson family is swiftly rushed through so the film can get to Michael’s biggest hits. Every famous musical number is preceded by a scene where Michael gets a hit of inspiration. Every scene where he is an artist at work is accompanied by shots of everyone with awed expressions. There is some adversity on Michael’s path, but never too much to make the film feel serious. It’s a ‘greatest hits’ playlist rather than a film with a soul. Much like Bohemian Rhapsody, the structure is painfully generic, with a song being written, followed by the performance, followed by the subsequent success, followed by a time jump to the next one. Rinse and repeat for two hours.
This extends to the film’s characters, nearly all of whom are one-dimensional archetypes. This unfortunately includes Michael Jackson himself. The film presents him as a near-messianic figure who is good to a fault as opposed to a complex character with psychological depth. This makes for an incredibly dull and boring protagonist with zero depth which is an absolute travesty for a film about Michael Jackson, one the greatest musical artists of all time. It is both comical and disappointing that this is the approach the filmmakers took. There is so much to explore, from Michael’s lack of a proper childhood to the toll of being a child celebrity to his abuse at the hands of his father to his status and struggles as a black artist. All of this is mentioned but never explored because the film must maintain its crowd-pleasing tone. Instead of challenging the viewer by going into a psychological deep dive into the protagonist’s mind and offering unique insight into the legend, it gives audiences a sanitized, empty telling of Michael’s story that serves only to remind people of his music and his excellent music videos that many grew up with.
The only character with any sort of extra dimension is surprisingly Joseph Jackson, played by Coleman Domingo. But even he comes across more as a one-dimensional villain and the actual consequences of his abuse never manifest psychologically for Michael. The worst he faces is being burnt by fire due to a malfunction. There is no room for introspection as that would require depicting events that would rob the film of its PG-13 rating and thus limit its audience and box office revenue.
As for the rest of the characters, they may as well be cardboard cutouts. The Jackson family, barring Joseph, are all depicted as saints, who are fully supportive of Michael’s career choices. Every figure in the music industry is in awe of Michael’s talent, despite the fact that corporate executives are always exploiting young talent. There is so much potential for a fantastic film and the filmmakers squander all of it.
The main attraction here is of course the musical sequences and their creation. The film certainly does its best to faithfully recreate many of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits and to give credit where its due, the filmmakers do well at recreating them, especially Beat It and Thriller. Of course, they pale in comparison to the original music videos and live performances, all of which are available to watch on YouTube, since they lack the clear passion of the original artists. They feel like what they are, soulless recreations meant to play on audience’s nostalgia and to hide the lack of substance in the script. There could have been more substance if the film was willing to dive into Michael’s thoughts and inspirations but there is clearly zero interest in the artist’s creative process from the filmmakers.
The actual filmmaking on display ranges from competent to downright atrocious. The musical recreations are decent but the editing and overall pacing throughout the film is jarring. The film cuts from scene to scene in a desperate rush to get to the iconic moments of Michael’s career with no room for moments to breathe. The cinematography is fine but never tries anything interesting, instead opting for the bare minimum. The live concert scenes are butchered by the editing, constantly cutting between wide shots and close-ups, constantly trying to distract the audience as opposed to letting the performance speak for itself in long takes.
Perhaps the only true shining light of this film are the performances and even they feel held back by the vapid script. Jafaar Jackson is certainly excellent in the way he captures Michael’s mannerisms, physicality and voice but that’s as far as his performance goes. It is authentic for the most part, but there is no moment where Jafaar has to introduce depth into his acting, likely because there is nothing in the script for him to work from. It’s a pitch-perfect impression and nothing more.
Coleman Domingo is the only other performance of note since he brings the as much energy as possible to this one-dimensional version of Joseph Jackson. He is captivating to watch, but Domingo’s talent is never taken advantage of. He is one of the best actors working today but a viewer would never be able to tell from this film.
To make matters worse, the film’s final act is little more than a protracted concert that feels tacked on and wholly anti-climactic. The film does not build up to it in any meaningful way and then proceeds to simply end at the Bad World Tour with no resolution. The corporate strings make themselves abundantly visible as the film ends with blatant sequel-bait. The idea of a sequel covering the more controversial aspects of Michael’s life sounds promising on paper, but it will likely come across as even more comically sanitized.
Overall, Michael is a soulless film with nothing to say. There is so much potential for an engrossing story about one of the greatest musical artists of all time, but the film is clearly prioritising profit over storytelling. A decent lead performance cannot save an empty script that barely scratches the surface of the psychology of its main character. Fans of Michael Jackson will certainly get what they’re looking for if all they want is a greatest hits playlist, but those looking for an artistically challenging musical biopic that interrogates the inner workings of its protagonist with strong filmmaking and a voice of its own had best look elsewhere.