Ever since Bohemian Rhapsody became a runaway hit in 2018, biopics based on legendary musicians have become all the rage. With Hollywood’s latest attempt at printing guaranteed money in full swing, it was only a matter of time before they got to the holy grail of musicians and dollars, Michael Jackson. After much hype, the musical biopic of the King of Pop had finally arrived. Michael tells the story of Jackson’s rise to fame from living in Gary, Indiana with his stern, controlling father Joseph (Colman Domingo) and caring mother Katherine (Nia Long), alongside his brothers and sisters.
A somewhat consistently resurgent argument on social media is insisting that a current day pop star is as big, or bigger, than Michael Jackson. It seems as if current generations are eager to find their own contemporary analog for the music legend, to say that their idol stands next to him in the pantheon of legends. Those who were alive to remember the King of Pop‘s prime argue that due to, amongst other things, the loss of monoculture or the lack of fanfare for current artists no one can live up to the fame that Michael Jackson had. What Michael does touch upon as one of its emotional threads is the isolation and loneliness that Jackson suffered through as part of his nearly lifelong term in the spotlight. Jackson famously had a love for exotic animals which the film presents as stand-ins for the friends he has always been unable to have as someone who became known worldwide as a ten-year-old. His fame and wealth may have had it present as access to what would normally be unobtainable, but in reality, Jackson at his core was just a child who wanted friends that saw him as an ordinary companion and not a famous person to gawk at and brag about.
It’s an emotionally tortuous existence that shaped who Jackson was and a struggle he had for over 40 years, which the film presents mostly effectively. Jackson the actor also portrays this struggle empathetically and believably in the film’s quiet moments away from the stage and recording studio, as it would have happened in Jackson’s life. The duality of being a superstar in the outside world and a lonely young man with no one to relate to at home is captured in the performance, balancing the bravado required in the former and the quiet pain that exists in the latter.
Similarly, the film does well in establishing the fact that Jackson’s emotional turmoil is also rooted in his complicated relationship with his father Joseph. In addition to his fame, Michael’s controlling, abusive relationship with his father Joseph is the impetus for his feelings of isolation. Joseph controls all aspects of his family’s lives which increasingly becomes a problem as Michael seeks to become his own artist, and ultimately, man. This journey toward independence is the other conflict in the film and Domingo plays a good antagonist for Jaafar Jackson to play off of. Domingo is easy to root against as the controlling and uncaring patriarch but could have been fleshed out a bit more in his motivations. There are moments where Michael hints at Joseph’s desire to avoid a fate of manual factory work for his boys or his desire to ensure that Michael stays apart of The Jacksons music group as a way to protect the lesser talented boys, but those moments are few and far between as his monstrousness takes center stage; the core flaw of the film.
While the idea of Jackson’s emotional turmoil is both set up and acted well, Michael doesn’t dig deeply enough into these moments, letting them linger and settle to provide a little more weight to the film in full. With a runtime capped at two hours and numerous musical performances of Jackson’s classic hits in full, you can’t help but wonder if the film would have been better served cutting some of those numbers short in favor of longer lasting character moments that fully fleshed out Michael’s emotional and personality exploration. The result is that much of the movie feels like a recreation of concerts and performances, a music video rather than a film with a full story. Many of Jackson’s hardcore fans will be apt to disagree as those timeless hits get the stage to fully play out, providing moments full of joy and opportunities for the audience to sing and dance along to Jaafar Jackson’s nearly pitch perfect renditions of his uncle’s vocal and dance performances which they are sure to take full advantage of. Musical biopics are made for these audience satisfying moments on some level, right? But, finding a better balance for the dramatic elements and the entertaining musical elements undoubtedly would have made for a stronger, more impactful film.
Image: Lionsgate
