“Michael” (US- rated PG-13)
Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Where to watch: In theaters
Dwight’s Rating:
This film is brought to you with limited commercial interruptions by Mr. Clean, Tide and Scrubbing Bubbles.
Clorox almost made the list, but was scrapped since there’s shockingly little in the finished product – other than a brief mention of vitiligo – acknowledging the lightening properties inherent with bleach (or associated with the subject).
Nevertheless, whatever your favorite “cleaning” product, it likely got a chance to work over the script for “Michael” – the squeaky PG-clean biopic about the proclaimed “King of Pop”, the late Michael Jackson, who died at age 50 back in 2009.
And so, “Michael”, while entertaining, is much more notable for what has been excluded than for what’s actually in it. Its primary purpose appears to have been to create a new sanitized legend for a man who became a highly controversial – some would say “extremely bizarre” – individual in the years leading up to his death.
The film, from noted Director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”, “The Equalizer”), and Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan (“Gladiator”, “The Aviator”), covers Jackson’s life from the early days of his family band, the Jackson 5, to his solo career, and his relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world.
But right from the start, people familiar with nearly every aspect of the Jacksons – and that’s pretty much everyone over 25 – will have head-scratching questions.
Other than the four/five members of the Jackson 5 and sister La Toya, there’s no sign of youngest sister Janet or eldest sister Rebbie. Not only are they not part of the cast, they are not even mentioned – not even to say they’re studying or in the bathroom or sick or sleeping. It’s like they don’t exist.
Apparently, not all the family members gave permission to be part of the project. But there had to be a better way to deal with this. Especially with Janet’s success in particular.
And while it’s acknowledged that Michael was a fan of “The Wizard of Oz”, there’s no mention of the high-profile theatrical remake “The Wiz” starring Jackson and his dear friend Diana Ross.
It seems that part of the film was cut for legal and licensing reasons. And perhaps the folks behind the scenes didn’t want to address the fact that “The Wiz” was a huge flop, seeing as the narrative here suggests that everything Michael touched turn to gold, or at least sequins.
There’s no “We are the World” either, little mention of well-publicized relationships and fallouts with other notable celebrities. Sure, we can agree to disagree on what’s important, and allow for the creative license to flow freely. But it does feel a little weird.
In any event, there are even bigger issues. This cleaning process was exceptionally vigorous. It’s like pre-soak, heavy duty cycle, hottest temperature, frequent spins, and then repeat.
Michael is portrayed as sweet and innocent, too pure for this cruel world – a place of mean-spirited people who don’t understand the good things in life. And with the most diabolical movie villain since Batman foil The Joker – Jackson family patriarch Joe.
Joe is violent, abusive and creepy! Oscar-nominee Colman Domingo is unsettlingly good here. (If he’d been this nasty as Mister in the theatrical version of “The Color Purple” musical, that might have gone a long way in addressing what was largely a waste of time).
Mean Joe Jackson regularly subjects poor Michael to the belt just for being tired. For the entire picture, Michael is our angelic hero and Joe is the bad guy with whom he’s in constant conflict.
But there’s another conflict. One between Michael and his mother, Katherine (Nia Long). They are clearly competing to see who should be the first to be considered for sainthood. In fact, “Michael” seems like a campaign video to get the Vatican onboard with a canonization movement for its subject.
The only reason we don’t hear “Heal the World” over and over is because this only chronicles his life up to the release of his “Bad” album in 1987.
But we see how much he loved animals, especially exotic ones from everywhere but North America. He loved sick children. He was a generous philanthropist. He still held on to a childlike outlook on the world. And he just wanted everyone to be happy.
But we knew all of that, right?
Unless you’re aged 15 and under, very little in this picture will come as a surprise. A good portion of the film features musical performances.
We get the requisite in-studio recording takes and a lot of reenactments of television musical appearances and music video productions or concerts. There’s also an extremely lengthy session for the making of the video for “Thriller”.
And that’s so strange. Why? Why are we watching a video or concert reenactment? Not just an elaborate clip. But a whole song or set?
The earlier parts of the picture blend the music and acting scenes better, allowing young Juliano Valdi to show his musical talent and acting ability as the preteen Michael.
But the film follows a disturbing trend in movies of late, involving characters that age. The younger, less-famous actors have been out-acting the older cast members.
Jaafar Jackson plays the older Michael. Jaafar is the real-life son of Michael’s brother Jermaine, and thus Michael’s nephew. He talks like him, has a slight resemblance, and without a doubt, has the dance moves. But as we get to the latter part of the film, this becomes more about the reenactments and impersonations than acting, and the focus seems to be on mimicry.
The decision to focus on these years just before things really seemed to get more interesting for Jackson is highly questionable. But it appears there may be a sequel that explores that period in time.
It’s not clear how that’s going to gel with this squeaky-clean version. Unless they just put up a white screen for two hours, there likely won’t be enough cleaning products on the planet to get that one to be PG, inoffensive or in any way accurate.
- Dwight Strachan is the host/producer of “Morning Blend” on Guardian Radio and station manager. He is a television producer and writer, and an avid TV history and film buff. Email dwight@nasguard.com and follow him on twitter @morningblend969.
