Michael Jackson was the King of Pop and amassed a following unlike any artist in the genre since his reign. 

Making a biopic about a man with such a strong following from both fans and critics is near impossible, but director Antoine Fuqua and producer Graham King set out to make it happen. 

Unfortunately, the final product stops before I get enough. 

The biopic begins humbly in Gary, Indiana, with the Jackson 5 beginning their rise to stardom under the oversight of Joe Jackson, who is played by Colman Domingo. 

Domingo’s presence on screen is quite intimidating physically, psychologically and emotionally, resulting in the audience feeling unsettled any time he appeared on screen. 

As the Jackson 5 continue to garner more attention and fans, Michael’s talent slowly becomes more sought after, leading the pop star to eventually want to pursue his own career and escape Joe’s management. 

The portrayal of Michael in the biopic is nothing short of generational. 

For starters, Juliano Valdi, as a young Michael, is one of the best child actors to ever grace the screen. The ability to balance isolationist and gleaming personalities seamlessly is incredibly difficult, but he delivers. 

Similarly, Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s nephew, portrays Michael’s adult life in an uncanny light. The mannerisms are to a point where you no longer can recognize that Jaafar is portraying his uncle. It’s just Michael brought back to life on the big screen. 

For both actors, this effect is primarily achieved through their mannerisms and choreography being given to them by Michael’s own choreographers, allowing for recreations indistinguishable from their original counterparts. 

Despite the generational casting, the film wants to start something with Michael’s story, but found itself caught in the middle of legal problems and reshoots. 

The narrative of the film ends with a performance of “Bad” with no satisfying transition to that time period and zero acknowledgement of Michael’s child abuse allegations. 

It was made clear before the film’s release that the biopic was meant to cover that, but had its third act retooled due to legal contracts and stars declining to be portrayed in the film, like Diana Ross. 

This isn’t a fault of the film, but results in the product ending in an unsatisfying manner. However, if the first one performs well at the box office, a sequel tackling that era of Michael’s life will be greenlit. 

Even still, I’m not sure a sequel can properly dive into the time period based on how it handled the time of Michael’s life this film covered. 

The biopic moves on much too fast from different musical periods with little to no explanation of how we get from spot to spot. 

For example, Michael’s “Off the Wall” album only has “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” played during its first taping in the recording booth before we move on to the leadup of the “Thriller” era. 

This results in the biopic feeling half-baked as specific details on the creation of the music feel ignored. I understand the biopic is more focused on the story of Michael seeking independence from Joe, but we’re sacrificing essential details to achieve that goal. 

Speaking of sacrifice, the cinematography isn’t doing the biopic any favors either. 

There are multiple instances of the film showing the creation of music videos for Michael’s greatest hits that are filmed in a way that almost does the originals a disservice. 

Take “Thriller” for example. Michael makes a point in the film to ensure the person filming the music video keeps his legs in frame so the audience can feel the groove. 

So what does the biopic’s cinematography do? Cut often and does not keep his legs consistently in frame. How this happened, I do not know, but what I do know is that nobody thought to tell the cinematographer, “This looks bad. Really, really bad.” 

I enjoy Michael’s music and loved seeing recreations of his most important moments in life with phenomenal casting, but I wish I got more from this. More time is spent on the creation of the music. More time spent fixing the cinematography. 

In its current form, “Michael” is a half-baked biopic that has its growth stunted. Legal reasons outside of the film’s control and not going into enough detail on the parts of his life we see prevent the film from being as great as his music. 

Instead, audiences can expect a good experience, but those craving a good biopic will be disappointed. 

Rating: 2.5/5 

Luke Brewer can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].