Michael Jackson’s Legacy

Did we ever believe we were going to get an even-handed look at Michael Jackson’s complicated legacy?

A Michael Jackson biopic was always going to be a controversial proposition given the serious child abuse allegations he faced in the final years of his life. Michael, the glitzy music biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) with the cooperation of the Michael Jackson Estate has found an ingenious way to navigate that potential minefield; the movie simply never mentions it at all. 

Based on a screenplay by John Logan (Skyfall), Michael is essentially big-budget Wikipedia entry that hits on the major moments in Jackson’s life and career, from his childhood fame in Jackson Five through to the release of Bad in in the late ‘80s. 

Michael Jackson’s life has been dramatized and discussed so often in the pop culture landscape that there are little surprises here. We follow a young Michael (played by Juliano Krue Valdi ) growing up in Gary, Indiana in the ‘60s, surrounded by a large family helmed by his abusive father Joe (the always great Colman Domingo). 

Joe ruthlessly forces Michael and his brothers to practice endlessly, helping build Jackson Five into a live force that soon sways Motown Records into working from the group. After their breakout success, the film follows the now adult Michael (Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s actual nephew) as he and the family relocate to California, where he plans to break free from his father’s tight grasp and launch a solo career. 

Father and Son

That schism between Michael and his father is the emotional hook of the film, and it’s impossible not to root for Michael as we watch him become a superstar from the release of Off the Wall and eventually Thriller, one of the greatest-selling albums of all time. 

Jaafar Jackson does a great job in the lead, and looks eerily like a young Michael Jackson, especially during the Thriller-era section of the film. He has the mannerisms and look down pat, and the musical sequences feel like vintage Jackson footage. It’s hard not to catch yourself bopping along when classic tracks like “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” or “Billie Jean” are blasting through an IMAX theatre but that real live footage already exists; so what is Michael bringing to the table?

There’s an argument to be made that a film like Michael is intended more for younger fans who never lived through the child abuse saga first-hand. As an inspiring story of a poor black child who broke through to become one of the biggest superstars in history in spite of an abusive and controlling father, Michael delivers the goods. 

Nothing To See Here

The issue is that Michael is so sanitized that it begins to feel more like a PR exercise by his estate than anything else. Obviously, a film like this is about cementing Jackson’s legacy, but the over-the-top goodness of his character in the film becomes over-bearing at a certain point. 

Michael would have you believe that the only issue Jackson had is loving children too much. Even after suffering brutal burns in a TV commercial taping gone wrong, we find him at the bed of a dying child in a hospital, reading him a bedtime story. 

There are a number of examples of this in the film; Michael not only completely side-steps the child abuse allegations, but seemingly rebuffs them by showing Jackson engaging with children directly numerous times throughout the film. All he wants to do is buy them toys and take care of them, nothing weird to see here. 

Putting aside the abuse allegations, Michael is just a little too paint for numbers for such an iconic artist. The plotting and pain points are so obviously telegraphed in advance that viewers can easily see what’s coming next even if they’re not fully versed in Jackson’s timeline. 

MJ Meets “Walk Hard”

At its most egregious, the storytelling often feels lazy. Instead of delving into the writing or recording of any of Jackson’s countless hits, the film solves this problem by simply having Jackson stare at a selection of wall-mounted post-it notes during the Thriller sessions, one of which features a hand-written note with the now-iconic “Mama-say, mama-sa, ma-ma-ko-ssa” lyrics from “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” “Ah,” he seems to be thinking, in a laughable moment that seems to come straight out of the Walk Hard school of ridiculous music tropes. “Let’s try that!” 

It’s possible to be of two minds about Michael; its an entertaining if slight movie biopic that coasts on incredible music and Jaafar Jackson’s strong performance, and also feels like a coldly calculating exercise in burying Jackson’s abuse allegations beneath the surface. 

Dan Reed’s tragic Leaving Neverland documentary on Jackson’s child abuse allegations still exists as a damning piece of evidence against Jackson, but for better or worse, Michael may be the film that cements his legacy for generations to come. 

Michael is in theatres now.