Review:
"Michael"
Release Date: April 24, 2026 Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 127 minutes “His Story Continues” reads the end titles card of Michael, director Antoine Fuqua’s bland and bloated Michael Jackson biography. This James Bond-ian pronouncement is the only acknowledgment by Fuqua and his creative collaborators that they have only told half of Jackson’s story, that the sexual abuse allegations against the so-called King of Pop must be explored at another time. If at all. This wasn’t always the case. Michael reportedly addressed sexual abuse accusations against its high-profile subject, but the script credited to John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) had to be rewritten after “attorneys for the Jackson estate, which served as a producer, realized there was a clause in a settlement with one of the singer’s accusers… that barred the depiction or mention of him in any movie,” per Variety. This resulted in reshoots to the film’s third act that reportedly cost between $10-$15 million. It’s obviously unfair to review a film for what it is not. But the problem with Michael is that those accusations against the singer hang like a cloud over a biography that evolved by necessity to become a by-the-numbers account of his rise to stardom. We all know that Michael endured physical abuse during his childhood at the hands of his controlling showbiz father Joe Jackson. We all know that Michael, in his adult years (played by his real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, the son of Jermaine Jackson), needed to wrestle control of his career away from his father. We all know that Michael suffered second-degree and third-degree burns from a 1984 on-set accident, one that also impacted his heath until his 2009 death. And we all know that Michael’s private life came under intense scrutiny as a result of the sexual abuse accusations, a civil settlement with the alleged victim’s family, and the criminal investigation that was eventually dropped. It’s impossible to tell one half of Michael’s story without telling the second half, and Michael does not pull off the impossible. For example, Michael does include uncomfortable moments of Jackson hanging out with sick children in hospital, but Fuqua stages them to highlight Jackson’s greater affinity for children than adults, and in no way does Fuqua intended for them to telegraph future accusations against Michael. Produced by Bohemian Rhapsody’s Graham King and the two primary executors of the Michael Jackson Estate, John Branca and John McClain, the version of Michael now in theaters traces the trials and tribulations Michael faced in his bid to become not just a global superstar but the most successful solo artist of any and all generations. Director Antoine Fuqua opens Michael in 1966 with the Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson (Colman Domingo) willing his young sons to fame as the Jackson 5. He ends Michael with the newly crowned King of Pop performing “Bad” at a Wembley Stadium in 1988 in celebration of his emancipation from Joe Jackson. (This requires skipping the years 1985-1987 to achieve this sing-along climax.) Yes, Joe Jackson is keenly positioned as the villain of Michael. He receives his due credit for not just creating one of America’s most beloved and successful boy bands but to keep them at the top of the charts as they aged into adults. But he’s also portrayed as being overly ambitious, domineering, manipulative on too many levels to detail, and conniving to the detriment of his relationship with his children. He’s more manager than father, and whatever he does is not in the best interest in the Jackson family but in the best interest of the Jackson brand. (There is much talk about family in “Michael,” most of it from Joe as a form of emotional manipulation. But with the exception of Michael, Joe, and his wife Katherine, the Jackson family is pushed into the background. In fact, Fuqua makes little effort to distinguish one brother from other, rendering them as nothing more than Michael’s backup band. You know things are bad when La Toya is the only sibling you can identify. Oh, and for the record, youngest sister Janet—the second most famous Jackson—along with Michael’s eldest sister Rebbie and youngest brother Randy reportedly declined to appear in Michael.) Worse, Joe is depicted as being physically abused to Michael, with one scene even contending that Joe did not think twice about taking a belt to the adult Michael. As Joe Jackson, Colman Domingo looms large in every scene he shares with the two actors who play Michael. Domingo imbues Joe with the brawn of a bully, the drive and savviness of an impresario, and subtly of a sledgehammer. You do not want to be on the receiving end of one of Domingo’s intense stares or dressing downs. And not once in the film does the adult Michael stand up to or defy his father to his face. The film’s only true surprise is its willingness to depict Michael as a son so beaten down by his verbally and physical abusive father that he cannot muster the strength to confront him in person. Instead, Michael is shown time after time hiding behind the people in his life—his mother Katherine (Nia Long, suitably reassuring), his bodyguard Bill (KeiLyn Durrel Jones, deeply empathetic), and his lawyer John Branca (Miles Teller, a shark disguised as a dolphin)—to defy and extricate himself from his father. Even the moment that Michael declares his freedom from Joe, during the Jacksons’ 1984 Victory tour, is a hollow victory because Michael does it from afar and without uttering a single word directly to Joe. That said, the Michael Jackson of Michael inherits his father’s ambitions. Michael believes as much in his skill and talent as his father, and he needs to leave his father behind to reach his full potential both as a singer and as a global superstar. And the film is never shy from telling us that Michael was a singular talent who could not become who he was destined to be until he took control of his life and career. Of course, becoming famous at such at age 11 comes at a steep cost. Double that if you must live your childhood with an abusive parent. And the film never shies away from portraying Michael as suffering from arrested development for those reasons. The adult Michael is shown reading a Peter Pan board book and treating his many exotic pets—including Bubbles the chimpanzee—as his only true friends. In the hands of a master storyteller, Michael would conduct a deep dive onto its psyche of its emotionally and psychologically damaged subject, and perhaps connect it to the sexual abuses accusations leveled at him in the 1990s. But Fuqua barely begins scratch the surface of what made Michael tick outside of what has already been publicly revealed. The Michael Jackson of Michael is sadly defined by his talent and his relationship to his father. To say that Michael takes a conventional approach to its subject is unfair because music biographies are inherently conventional. I’m Not There and Better Man are exceptions to the rule. So what you want from a music biography isn’t just a exceptionally told account of its subject’s life and career but for it to display honesty, curiosity, and profundity. Fuqua has directed a few dramas, including Southpaw, The Guilty, and Emancipation, but he is primarily an action specialist (Training Day, The Equalizer trilogy). And his limitations in drama work against him. He stages dialogue-driven scenes to dull and drab effect, relying on Colman to power through the film and to let Jaafar Jackson dazzle us with his King of Pop moves. Fuqua strips away whatever depth and insider perspective that John Logan’s script may have initially possessed. A music video veteran, Fuqua shows a greater comfort level when he puts Michael in a recording studio, in a rehearsal space, or on a concert stage. At times, though, Michael’s isolated vocals and his music carry Fuqua through his impressive and soul-stirring recreations, including his concert performances of “Working Day and Night” with the Jacksons and the climatic “Bad.” The making of the “Thriller” music video—complete with a dialogue-free depiction of director John Landis—is a stand-out moment of Michael exercising his creation awareness and growing might. That said, Michael’s 1984 accident—his hair caught on fire during the making of a Pepsi commercial—is so clumsily executed that it feels exploitative. If Michael ever impresses, it is with its casting. Juliano Krue Valdi, as the young Michael, is an exuberant presence. He is magnetic as the preteen singer who is years away from coming into his own but knows how to use the gifts he was born with. More important, he holds his own against the bellowing, belligerent Colman Domingo. Fuqua and Logan could have built an entire Jacksons 5 biopic around Valdi. As Michael, Jaafar Jackson is almost the spitting image of his uncle. He pulls off Michael’s singing style and dance moves with confidence and authenticity—dig his Moonwalk—and possesses an undeniable onstage charisma. (Whether Jaafar can sing is an open question, as he lip-synchs to Michael’s vocals.) Jaafar finds energy and joy in his Michael while retaining the superstar’s unassuming aura—the film does not pretend Michael the man was an outsized personality on the scale of James Brown, Mick Jagger, or David Bowie. Given the film sadly operates on the simplest of levels, Jaafar rarely is given the opportunity to explore or even hint at the personal demons that haunt Michael. So it will be intriguing to see if and how Jaafar can dig deeper to present a more complicated and complex King of Pop if there a sequel. But what is the incentive for making a sequel? The filmmakers and the Michael Jackson Estate can have it both ways with Michael. If the film flops, then clearly they can point to a lack of an audience interest in Michael’s life and career almost 20 deaths after his death. If the film is a blockbuster, all relevant parties can claim they have satisfied audience demand and that there is no need to rehash the controversies of the 1990s. (And, of course, this would go some way to reframing Michael’s life in the eyes of those who prefer to forget what he was accused of doing and to present only the best of Michael to those too young to know his full story.) As disingenuous as that may be, they may have a point. Michael had less highs in the 1990s and 2000s than he did lows, so it hard to imagine audiences being as interested in a downbeat closing chapter of his life than they would be in his many early triumphs. Plus, there is no reward in erasing any goodwill generated by Michael. A sequel also poses at least two difficult questions. How do you address the scandal in Michael’s favor without being accused of rewriting history? And how do you end a sequel? With his greatest hits playing over his 2009 funeral procession and service? The only way to handle the sexual abuse accusations was within a single movie. Michael can’t help but feel incomplete and sanitized without acknowledging sexual abuse accusations. And while you will leave Michael upbeat and humming “Bad” to yourself, you also can’t escape the nagging thought that “HIStory” ignored is “HIStory” denied. Posted: April 22, 2026. Web sites: https://michael.movie/ https://www.facebook.com/michaelmovie/ |
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