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Michael review – cliched Jackson biopic is bland, bowdlerised … and bad

Rammed with every music-movie cliche, an almost mute supporting cast and a Michael who only produces endless smiley blandness, this is a frustratingly shallow film

Antoine Fuqua’s demi-biopic of Michael Jackson gives you the chimp, the llama, the giraffe … but not the elephant in the living room. It’s like a 127-minute trailer montage assembling every music-movie cliche you can think of: the producers’ astonishment in the recording studio, the tour bus, the billboard chart ascent, the meeting with the uncool corporate execs in their offices.

The film skates through Jackson’s life from the early days of the Jackson Five, terrorised by belt-wielding dad Joe, to his emergence as a stunningly original, globally adored solo act, culminating in the colossal Wembley Stadium concert in 1988, at which stage he was 30-years-old. And there we leave it, with the baffling surtitle flashed up on screen before the end credits roll: “The story continues”. It certainly does. Does this mean a second, darker movie is in the works? Maybe. Producer Graham King and the Jackson family estate are reportedly considering a “Michael 2”; if this happens, they will have to find a very different film-making style, something other than this bland, slick, corporate hagiography. And there is certainly no clear commitment to anything. All concerned might well think it’s best to exit here, and avoid the controversy, like the stage show MJ: The Musical.

Michael is a failure on every single level

“What is the problem with Michael Jackson?” an Iraqi interrogator (played by Saïd Taghmaoui) asks the American captive he’s about to torture in the most affecting scene of David O. Russell’s Three Kings, a dark comedy set during the aftermath of first Gulf War in 1991. “Your country make him chop up his face.”

“That’s bullshit, he did it to himself,” the American (played by Mark Wahlberg) protests, but his interrogator retorts: “Michael Jackson is pop king of sick fucking country … your sick fucking country made the Black man hate himself.”

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'Michael' Director Antoine Fuqua Defends Michael Jackson Allegations

“Michael” director Antoine Fuqua opened up for the first time about the movie’s dramatic reshoots in a new interview with The New Yorker. As Variety reported ahead of the biopic’s theatrical release, “Michael” was forced to spend up to $15 million on additional photography in order to overhaul the film’s structure.

The original movie started in 1993 with police raiding Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch after he’s accused of sexually abusing 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. The film then flashed back to recount the superstar’s life story and build back up to the allegation and the Chandler family’s lawsuit, which Jackson ultimately settled for $23 million before the investigation was closed when the Chandler family stopped cooperating with prosecutors.

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