Michael Jackson biopic moonwalks over the truth
- Apr 23
- 2 min read
Michael
(⭐️⭐️ stars out of 4)
Starring Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi, Miles Teller, Larenz Tate and Mike Myers. Written by John Logan. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. 127 minutes. Opens Friday at Toronto theatres. STC
Peter Howell
Movie Critic
The Michael Jackson movie “Michael” is more of a hostage negotiation than a biopic. The Jackson estate, with a metaphorical gun to the audience’s head, dares you to remember anything inconvenient.
Starring look-alike nephew Jaafar Jackson and executive produced by members of the Jackson family, the film by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) insists we recall the late King of Pop not as the scandal-prone figure of his decline but as the musical phenomenon he was from the 1960s through 1980s. That it fails is hardly surprising, given who’s holding the camera and the purse strings.
The “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” dodge by the mortal wizard exposed in “The Wizard of Oz” comes to mind, and it’s not flattering. In this hagiographic telling of the Jackson tale, the pop superstar was an innocent soul who triumphed over an abusive father, loneliness and a destructive impulse for perfection. The curtain stays firmly shut.
Few in the audience will be unaware that Jackson, who died at age 50 in 2009, spent the last 16 years of his life fighting multiple child-sex accusations, all of which he hotly denied. The 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland” reignited those allegations with searing testimonials, which makes the contortions around the subject in “Michael” all the more conspicuous.
The film’s third act was originally supposed to address the scandal but was awkwardly rewritten and reshot, a fact the filmmakers would prefer you’d forget. It now ends not in a courtroom but with a triumphant 1988 performance of “Bad” at London’s Wembley Stadium.
