Film Review - Michael

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures.

The biopic covering the first half of the King of Pop’s rise to superstardom offers electrifying concert performances, true to life actors, and not much else. 

Antoine Fuqua’s Michael (2026) aims to tell the story of Michael Jackson’s life from the 60’s to the late 80’s, however this is overshadowed by most of the film being scenes of Jackson’s jaw-dropping acts. Around 70% of the runtime is dedicated to these, with the non-musical scenes being crammed in around them with little care. 

The structure of the film is its biggest flaw, with the film lacking the traditional three acts, instead having one scene flow into another without a proper overarching story. This does wonders for the film’s pacing, making a two hour film appear much shorter, at the cost of feeling more like one long montage rather than a feature film. The visuals are mundane and repetitive outside of the musical performances, where they are surprisingly inspired and flashy.

Jaafar Jackson is perfect in the role of MJ, which makes sense, as he is his biological nephew. He brings an uncanny realness to his acting (looking truly identical to Michael Jackson) and the all-out energy he brings to his dancing. Colman Domingo and Nia Long are great in the roles of Michael’s parents, with the prosthetic work on Domingo making him unrecognisable. 

The cast is full of incredible actors, who relay some of the most stilted dialogue you’ve ever heard. The film is good, but it is completely blinded by nostalgia and reverence for MJ, making some of the creative decisions leave a strange taste in your mouth. Throughout the film, allusions to MJ’s obsession with Peter Pan and Neverland are made, teasing Neverland Ranch in a way a Marvel movie would do with a future supervillain. Being the place heavily associated with his child sexual abuse case, it feels in poor taste. These cases are avoided entirely, the film finishing with a concert in 1988, promising that ‘his story will continue.’

The film’s soundtrack is unsurprisingly fantastic, with a minimal original score underlying some scenes, keeping the momentum going between the high octane performances and underwhelming dialogue scenes.

It’s a great musical but a middling biopic, sacrificing substance for style.

6 single white gloves out of 10.

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Michael is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.