Film Review: Michael

Michael was made for the fans who sadly have never had the opportunity to experience Michael Jackson live. 

This film is a biographical drama all about famous music star, Michael Jackson. Directed by Antione Fuqua, this film follows through his journey from starting off as the Jackson 5 to a global pop star. The main focus is delving into his career and his own personal complexities which created the man he was. 

Michael is played by Jackson's nephew, Jaafar Jackson. To say he had never acted ever in his life, you wouldn't have ever known. I really could not imagine anyone playing the role as good as he did. There was huge amounts of energy and he should be proud to represent his family so perfectly. Having that family link made it all the more special. 

This film was refreshing. As an MJ fan his music and himself is something that has been brought up as a negative and it was good to finally have some positive light on Michael and not get into debates about him. To enjoy the film and what his story meant to so many people. Revolutionising music forever and changing people's lives. 

It was an emotional rollercoaster, maybe due to my own childhood memories connecting with the music but also because Jackson didn't have the best upbringing. This was not covered over but explored, explaining how this affected him later on. It was fun when you could experience performance from Jackson and the attention to detail was out of this world. Everything was perfectly curated to create what was real history. 

The costumes and replicas of Michael's most iconic looks, gave me goosebumps as you could link with history and what you knew before. In particular the iconic Thriller music video, which may I add I used to watch on CD in my bedroom, all of these things made the experience exciting. 

For myself I couldn't find a fault within this film, as a biopic it was elegantly done and didn't shy from the truths within history. I did go into this with low expectations, not from the trailer but knowing how amazing MJ was and deciphering if it was possible to create. It had a balance of his personal life and music and it was cleverly intertwined together as if the music was the soundtrack to his own story too. 

The film finishes on a cliff hanger with the final scenes at the 1988 Bad World Tour. Which leads to the obvious that there could be another film soon. And I couldn't be happier to have more of MJ. My only worry is that the second film will bring more sadness as it reflects on the last decades of his life.

Going to see this with my grandparents and cousins definitely healed a part of my childhood. 

At the end of the day Jackson left a legacy, a legacy that deserved a screen to show to his fans how he became the icon he was.

I rate this 5 stars out of 5.