The value of a great music biopic comes from the context it provides. It’s easy to love the songs of Michael Jackson, but what went into their creation? What did Michael have to endure in order to become one of the most famous and beloved artists of all time? The new biopic Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jackson’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson, shows only the most superficial interest in exploring those questions, leading to a truly vapid filmgoing experience.
The action begins in 1966, as the nascent Jackson 5 blossom into stars under the ruthless control of Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo), who doesn’t hesitate to whip Michael with a belt in front of the whole family. Between his father’s abuse and the isolation that comes with being a very famous little boy, Michael is lonely — we know this, because he tells his mother (Nia Long) over one of many, many shared bowls of ice cream that he’s lonely. That’s why he adopts an increasingly wild collection of animals during his adolescence into adulthood, including the dramatic arrival of Bubbles the chimp, whose CGI recreation here never misbehaves and is free with his hugs and love.
The movie’s take on its central figure is that of a brilliant, abused little boy who clung to childhood trappings as an adult, his early successes overshadowed by his tyrannical father Joseph (Colman Domingo). The dramatic arc of the movie is reduced down to “Can Michael finally break free of his father’s control?” Spoiler alert: He does. Then in 1988, he performs “Bad,” smiling on stage as he does, and the movie ends with the caption “His Story Continues.”
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Taken as pure spectacle, Michael does its best to give the audience a taste of what it must have been like to see Jackson perform live. During the many musical moments peppered throughout the movie, Fuqua keeps his direction simple and clean, with plenty of wide shots that leave no question as to how good Jaafar Jackson is at dancing. He throws himself into recreating the classic dance moves of his uncle with notable verve; the rest of his performance slides too much into mimicry more often than not, but there’s never a sense that he’s being pushed beyond his abilities as an actor.
As for Colman Domingo, there’s no denying that he’s one of our finest working actors today, but a villain this one-dimensional is an impossible challenge for anyone. It’s the screenplay by John Logan that’s the real villain of the piece: Writing a script that pleases everyone involved with the estate of a deceased artist is without question a challenge, but Logan’s solution is to reject any effort whatsoever at subtext, every character expressing exactly how they feel in the bluntest possible terms.
Additionally, it almost feels like the screenplay should give a legal settlement a co-writing credit, because the version of Michael being released into theaters feels wildly different in tone and approach than what was originally made — a movie that did at least plan to tackle some of the darker moments of Jackson’s life and career.