MOVIE REVIEW: MICHAEL

 

The story of pop superstar Michael Jackson -- from his extraordinary early days in the Jackson 5 to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fuels a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo

Release Date: April 24, 2026

Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Music

Rated PG-13 for some thematic material, language, and smoking.

Runtime: 2h 7m

Review:

Michael is a glossy biopic that recreates major moments in his career with impressive care and attention to detail but the rest is a sanitized, superficial look at his life and complicated legacy.  Antonie Fuqua delivers a well acclimated film that moves at steady pace as he jumps through time periods fairly quickly relying a bit too much on montages.  The early Jackson 5 days are all appropriately nostalgic while also setting up the film’s central relationship between Michael and his task master father Joe.  Unfortunately, Fuqua seems impatient with the non-musical moments as he rushes through most of the character moments in order to get to the next set piece.  There are hints dropped here and there about Michael’s insulated, controlled life leading to his eccentricities as he gets older, but it’s never explored in any meaningful way.  There are times when you feel like the film starts to swerve into more uncomfortable territory and it quickly pulls back into safer, family approved aspects of his life.  It’s a real shame because you get the sense throughout the film that there’s a better, more insightful film in there which has been stripped down to basics to avoid dealing with any of the issues of his complicated upbringing, career and life.  It’s a wasted opportunity especially since the two actors portraying Michael turn in impressive turns that really capture his aura especially as a performer.  Juliano Krue Valdi plays young Michael in the early moments, and he isn’t asked to do much dramatically, but he really captures the look and feel of Jackson from those early performances.  Jaafar Jackson, as the older version of Michael, is really impressive as he captures his mannerism on and off stage to an eerie degree especially with the help of prosthetics and makeup in the back half of the film.  It’s just a shame the script doesn’t offer him much to work on the dramatic end since he proves to be a capable actor.  We are given glimpses into him creating his signature album, Thriller, but doesn’t offer much in the way of his inspiration or motivation outside of wanting to break free from his father’s grip.  It would have helped if any of the supporting characters were fleshed out with only Coleman Domingo’s Joe Jackson leaving an impression.  Domingo, under heavy prosthetics as well, steals every scene he’s in with his fiery turn that also could have also benefited from meatier script to work with.  KeiLyn Durrel Jones plays Michael's bodyguard, and he’s presented as a pseudo father figure/protector, but the film never bothers to explore their relationship outside of a few quick moments between the two.  It all reinforces how superficial Michael is as biopic since its more concerned with recreating well known moments than digging into what makes the man tick something that the second film, hopefully, digs into.  

C+