Michael
The music is the thing in Antoine Fuqua’s affectionate homage to the King of Pop.
Born to thrill: Jaafar Jackson as his uncle
Photo by Glen Wilson, courtesy of Universal Pictures.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
The last American movie called Michael was about an archangel; this one would appear to be about the Messiah. Produced in part by most of Michael Jackson’s extended family, the film cannot be accused of being a hatchet job. The serpent in the garden of Eden is Joseph Jackson, the patriarch who raised and sculpted his five sons with a rod of iron, or the leather of his belt. While the siblings’ friends were playing outside, or even going to school, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael were being drilled into how to deliver the perfect harmony. As Joe Jackson, Colman Domingo is suitably dictatorial, armed with a heavy hand and a creepy veneer when he’s not barking orders within his own domestical domain. The Peter Pan of Pop himself is played by Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson (son of Jermaine), in a performance that feels more like an impersonation than an embodiment of a real person. However, where Jaafar comes into his own is in his mimicry of his uncle’s moves, both on the street and on the stage.
All the bullet points of Michael’s well-chronicled life are here: the childhood beatings, Bubbles the chimpanzee, the dread of germs, the nose jobs and Michael’s obsession with Peter Pan, Chaplin, Disney cartoons and, eventually, horror films. There is an artificiality to the proceedings, not just because of Jaafar’s one-dimensional performance but because of the generic treatment of Michael’s rise to stardom with all the familiar tropes of the rags-to-riches biopic, the kid from Gary, Indiana, to his triumphant delivery of ‘Bad’ at London’s Wembley Stadium. By then (1988), the saint was already beginning to exhibit a darker, grittier persona, but he was still light years away from Kanye. That belongs in another movie.
Of course, there was a huge degree of artificiality to Michael Jackson, from his transformation as a Motown singer to Caucasian wannabe, along with his obsession for toys, games, animals and especially Bubbles, rendered here in all his computer-generated mischief. So maybe Antoine Fuqua’s tone is spot-on. Nothing feels real.
Over a decade ago, Fuqua was in talks to direct a biopic of Tupac, but as that failed to come to fruition he opted to tackle the biggest pop star of them all. Michael Jackson was, indeed, extraordinary, not just as an insanely talented performer, but as a good Samaritan, visiting children in cancer wards and burns units and attempting to heal the rift between warring gangs in Los Angeles – all with the power of joy and music.
For most of Fuqua’s Michael, Jaafar’s expression is frozen in a permanent smile, until things get really bad. But this is only half a film, as an ending title declares: His Story Continues… And, of course, that’s a whole different story. For many viewers too young to remember Michael’s darker days and run-ins with the law, Michael II might come as a shock. And yet his music lives on and this slick hagiography sensibly focuses on everything that made Michael such a draw: the eternal youth with all the right moves and the astonishing vocal range who won over a nation and united fans of every colour, creed and denomination.
Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo, Kendrick Sampson, Larenz Tate, Joseph David-Jones, Jamal R. Henderson, Jayden Harville, John Rabe, Tre Horton, Deon Cole, Rob Brownstein, Asia Fuqua.
Dir Antoine Fuqua, Pro Graham King, John Branca and John McClain, Ex Pro Antoine Fuqua, David B. Householter, Lydia Silverman, Prince Jackson, Karen Langford, Hayley King, Ron Burkle, Jermaine Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jackie Jackson, Marlon Jackson, La Toya Jackson and Jordan Schur, Screenplay John Logan, Ph Dion Beebe, Pro Des Barbara Ling, Ed John Ottman, Harry Yoon, Conrad Buff IV and Tom Cross, Music Lior Rosner, Costumes Marci Rodgers, Sound Samir Foco.
Lionsgate Films/GK Films/Optimum Productions-Universal Pictures.
127 mins. USA. 2026. UK and US Rel: 24 April 2026. Cert. 12A.
