“Michael” comes off as a vanity project for his estate and the Jackson family. The movie does a great job of showcasing clearly the genius and incredible talent of the singer. Yet it lacks deep insight into Michael Jackson as a person and avoids mentioning controversies such as the lawsuits against him for child molestation.

Since this is a biopic of a living person, I am not going to give a summary of what is portrayed in this film. Anyone who wants to more about Michael Jackson’s life can easily do so through multiple sources.

The best feature of this picture is the way it showcases the talent that Michael Jackson possessed. The re-creations of his work in the studio and on stage are breathtaking. Although his portrayer, Jaafar Jackson, his nephew, supposedly had his vocals blended with Michael’s, to hear Michael’s music again is to re-live the sadness that his career was cut so sadly short.

The director Antoine Fuqua does a spectacular job portraying Michael’s iconic Motown 25th anniversary performance. Other shows in London or on the Victory Tour also have the sense of intensity of seeing Michael perform live.

My favorite scene was the filming of the Thriller video. Throughout the movie, the choreography is masterfully handled. On this set, we see Michael ask the director, John Landis, to pull back the camera so that the full body, including the feet, are shown just as in a Fred Astaire film. These little insights into Michael’s creative process do him justice.

Michael came from a family with a very dominant father, Joe Jackson (Colman Domingo). The picture does not shy away from showing the obsessive, if not egomaniacal, control his father commanded in the early days. It is difficult to see a young Michael (Juliano Valdi) get beaten with a belt. Even as an adult, it was difficult for Michael to break away from his father’s influence. He didn’t move out of his parents’ home until the age of 29.

So we get some insight into who Michael was psychologically through his family dynamics. One interesting thought is that, given Michael’s innate talent, would he have been discovered had his father not pushed him and his brothers as hard as he did?

The singer also is shown as a young child being enchanted by reading Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz. Several times he is seen watching videos or mentioning Pinocchio, the Three Stooges, and Chaplin.

As an adult, this obsession with his childhood fantasy world continues. The net result is to reduce Michael to a man-child, incapable of evolving into real-world relationships. The approach screams more of pop psychology than true clinical insight into Michael as a person.

In fact, throughout the picture, Michael is portrayed as an asexual being. He has no love interests except for his animal friends. For that matter, he is not shown as having any real friends outside his work associates or his family. So how did Michael end up being married two times? The net effect of de-sexualizing him is creepy.

His vitiligo is mentioned once, when he goes in for nose surgery to reduce its size. The only other time we hear of his health is when he suffers third-degree burns from the Pepsi commercial accident. The scenes of the incident and his long recovery are well-made and show how much pain Michael endured. But we don’t know how this played out in the future. Was Michael, for example, taking painkillers long after he is discharged from the hospital?

Then there are the child molestation accusations which are left out entirely. I read about the legal issues involving this filmic choice. The movie also arbitrarily jumps from the end of the Victory Tour in 1984 to one last performance in London in 1988. By ending there, the producers could save face by saying that they didn’t go into that time period.

But how is this a film about Michael without including some details of his later life? His death at the hands of an anesthesiologist surely warrants mentioning as it abruptly robbed the world of his genius. The net effect is a sanitized portrayal of an artist who deserves better treatment.

Colman Domingo does superlative work portraying Joe Jackson. His body seems to alter as he channels the patriarch. The role is somewhat courageous since portraying the “bad guy” can lead to stereotyping. But Domingo portrays Joe’s monomania with a ferocity and tenaciousness that is utterly believable.

Nia Long does not fare as well. Her role is so truncated as bystander in the early part of the film that when she does come into her own person later, it is too little too late. I liked the scenes where she finally stands up to Joe. But you have to wonder if Joe beat his kids, did he beat her? This is never discussed.

Jaafar Jackson is truly a doppelganger for Michael. As stated above, my understanding is that the vocals in the film involve some blending of his voice with Michael’s. If this is so, at the end of the film, the credits for Michael’s songs indicate that Michael Jackson is the performer. I didn’t see a credit for Jaafar.

Nonetheless, he seems to have Michael’s everyday voice down well. His choreography is top-notch. He also exudes Michael’s charisma.

I also noticed that Janet Jackson is not portrayed at all in this film. This seems odd in a supposed biopic. She had her reasons for not wanting to be portrayed, but the film seems somehow incomplete without her.

So, I would say that if you like Michael Jackson, you won’t be disappointed by the performances in this film. But if want to know more about Michael the person, you need to do deeper research than this film is willing to do. This is a sanitized version of his life.

Two and a half out of five stars

MICHAEL is the cinematic portrayal of the life and legacy of one of the most influential artists the world has ever known. The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.

Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Juliano Krue Valdi, with Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: John Logan