Key Points

• Michael avoids the more controversial and complicated chapters of Michael Jackson's life, including the child abuse allegations, media scrutiny, legal battles, and the gradual decline of his public image.
• Where Michael truly comes alive is in its performance sequences.
• His striking voice, his signature moves, and his distinctive flamboyance are brought to screen seamlessly, leaving a strong visual and emotional impact.

While reflecting on the meaning of stardom, Shah Rukh Khan once famously described himself as a 'humble employee' of the 'brand SRK'. His words suggest that when the world builds a larger-than-life image around you, much of your life becomes an effort to live up to it.

Biopics that portray the lives of legends often explore this tension between the person and the persona. Michael, the musical biopic on Michael Jackson, follows a similar path.

There's a moment in the film where MJ, played by a sensational Jaafar Jackson, tells his associate that he wants to be 'mysterious' to the world.

For an artist as elusive as he was, the very idea of a biopic becomes a compelling way to explore him more intimately.

The title Michael itself is telling. It drops the 'Jackson,' to suggest something more personal about the musical legend. This is not about the King of Pop, but about a boy named Michael.

It's an intriguing proposition for the audience, but the film ultimately falls into a familiar pattern, echoing what Mike Myers' (who also makes cameo here) music label executive in Bohemian Rhapsody says: 'Formulas work. Let's stick to formula.'

If you are a MJ fan, there is plenty to enjoy as the film gleefuly leans into nostalgia and delivers musical frenzy for a great time at the movies. For those hoping for a more thoughtful biopic, Michael settles into a safe retelling of familiar beats, playing out more like a glossy, carefully curated Wikipedia page.

What's Michael About?

Recent films on musical legends come to mind like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and even the earnest but uneven A Complete Unknown, where the stories attempt to reveal the person behind their celebrated stature.

The structure of these stories rarely changes: Gifted talent, troubled childhood, mercurial rise, personal struggles, and finally a climactic performance framed as a grand musical celebration.

For all the great artists out there and their distinct personalities, it's a shame their biopics often end up feeling oddly similar.

Michael walks straight into this pattern and never quite finds a way out.

The film begins in 1967, with a 9-year-old Michael growing up in a cramped house with his parents and nine siblings.

His father Joseph Jackson (played by a stern-looking Colman Domingo), is introduced as a draconian figure who lays down the law early: 'In this life, you are a winner or a loser.'

Sr Jackson forms the band 'The Jackson 5' with Michael as the lead singer.

When a music producer hears Michael's voice, he optimistically says, 'The things you can do with that voice. You are special.'

From here on, the film moves briskly, almost too briskly, ticking off milestones of Michael's superstardom.

By 1970, Michael's ABC becomes a rage, and his songs quickly scale Billboard's Hot 100 chart to secure the top spot.

Debutant Jaafar Jackson, who is the son of Michael's older brother Jermaine Jackson, portrays Michael Jackson at the peak of his career.

The film shows more personal sides of Michael's life.

His affection for his animal pets (including a scene-stealing chimpanzee friend), his fondness for Charlie Chaplin films, which he watches with his loving mother (Nia Long) over a tub of popcorn and strawberry ice cream, and his warm friendships with some of his close associates, mainly his bodyguard Bill (KeiLyn Durrel) and his lawyer-turned-manager John Branca (played by Miles Teller, who looks like a younger Robert De Niro here).

But the major chunk of the film is dedicated to Michael's fraught relationship with his father, who increasingly treats his son as a money-printing machine. Michael even addresses his father by first name 'Joseph,' which tells you everything you need to know about the distance between them.

The film leans heavily on tight close-ups to convey Michael's inner struggles and his desire to break free from his father's control. Teller's hotshot lawyer John Branca (the real lawyer serves as a producer on the film) helps him eventually gain independence from his father.

The story written by written by John Logan, takes the father-son dynamic as the central conflict in Michael's life. While the film presents this tension clearly, it doesn't really explore it in much depth.

The same goes for Michael's siblings, who drift in and out of scenes like underwritten side characters in someone else's story. It gestures toward familial trauma but hesitates to explore it fully, as if it is afraid of making things too uncomfortable.

There's a slightly ironic moment when someone suggests naming an album 'Michael Jackson', only for MJ to quickly dismiss it as 'too egocentric.' Likewise, the film is so careful not to feel self-indulgent that it ends up feeling a bit cautious.

Director Antoine Fuqua shapes the story in a way that feels enjoyable and accessible, but only at the cost of staying on the surface.

There are too many brief scenes that don't meaningfully add to deeper aspects of MJ's personality.

For example, we briefly see Michael's skin condition, vitiligo, while he is relaxing by the pool with his brothers, but the film never really explores how he felt about it or how it shaped his experience in the public eye.

Similarly, his declaration that he is a 'proud Black artist' comes across in passing, but the film doesn't dig deeper into what that identity meant to him.

And this is the film's biggest disappointment that it plays it very safe. So safe that by the time the film wraps up in 1988 with the triumphant Bad tour, you can't help but notice what's missing.

By ending the story there, the film avoids the more controversial and complicated chapters of Jackson's life, including the child abuse allegations, media scrutiny, legal battles, and the gradual decline of his public image.

It's a deliberate choice and, in some ways, an understandable one, but it leaves the portrait feeling incomplete.

As the film ends on the line 'His Story Continues,' you are left wondering whether it's meant as a reflection of Michael Jackson's legacy or a hint toward a possible sequel. There's no clarity on the latter yet.

Jaafar Jackson Owns The Show

Where Michael truly comes alive is in its performance sequences.

His striking voice, his signature moves, and his distinctive flamboyance are brought to screen seamlessly, leaving a strong visual and emotional impact.

The recreation of the song Thriller, which we learn was inspired by an American horror film the singer was casually watching, stands out as one of the film's highlights. These moments make it clear why Michael Jackson was such a passionate artist.

A lot of this works because of Jaafar Jackson, who plays his late uncle with uncanny precision. The debut actor is styled with impeccably cloned costumes, and his dance moves, expressions, and the way he carries himself are so accurate that at times it feels less like acting and more like channelling the real Michael Jackson.

If only the film itself had matched his boldness, Michael would have been something truly special.

In the end, Michael remains a passable biopic that looks good, sounds great, and delivers the moments fans came for. But it also feels formulaic in a way that's hard to ignore.

For someone as singular as Michael Jackson, it ends up feeling like a standard rags-to-riches story we have seen many times before. Only this time, with better dance moves.

Michael Review Rediff Rating: