Michael Jackson’s Bad.
And honestly, that might be the best way to describe Michael. It is loud, it is electric, it is crowd pleasing and then when you get home and sit down, you start questioning everything you just watched.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, Michael follows the early life of the King of Pop from his days with The Jackson Five in the 60s to his early solo breakout in the 80s. Jaafar Jackson leads as MJ, with Colman Domingo, Nia Long and Miles Teller rounding it out.
The part where it absolutely works
Let me say this first.
This movie moves. Like, actually moves.
Two hours and ten minutes flew by and not in that “I was bored” way. More like I was locked in, then suddenly the credits were rolling and I was still processing what just happened.
And no, I’m looking at you, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. This is how you do pacing.
The opening scene alone had me. Just Jaafar’s silhouette and I already knew this crowd was in for something. Aura is the only word that fits.
Then it just keeps going. Every performance scene hits. Every dance sequence pulls the whole hall in. I watched this in IMAX on day one and the hall was packed. There were MJ cosplayers also. I am not kidding, the whole place turned into a concert. People shouting, clapping, tapping feet. Me included.
Jaafar Jackson is insane here (so does Juliano Valdi as young Michael). He does not feel like someone acting as MJ. He just becomes him. Especially in Thriller, Bad and Beat It scenes. For a second, you actually forget this is a film. I could easily see Jaafar Jackson getting nominations in the leading man category for this.
Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson also deserves credit. Not over the top but every time he appears, there is weight. You feel it straight away. That control freak energy is there too, the kind that hints at the strict childhood discipline and pressure Michael grew up under. It never becomes cartoonish but you always sense that tension sitting underneath every scene he is in.
And the music. Come on. It is Michael Jackson. From The Jackson 5 to solo MJ, it is basically cheating at this point.
At its best, Michael is not a film. It is a full-blown IMAX concert with a story attached.
The part where it starts falling apart
Then you leave the cinema and reality kicks in.
The story is paper-thin.
They are trying to cover 26 years of life here. That is not just ambitious, that is borderline impossible for a single film. And it shows.
Instead of building a proper narrative, it just jumps. Time skips, emotional skips, logic skips. It feels like someone said “just show the important bits” and left it at that.
At some point, it stops feeling like a movie.
It feels like a playlist.
And I kept thinking that because it is true. It is just big moments stitched together. Iconic scenes, yes, but not really a story that flows.
You enjoy it in the moment. Then you try to piece it together after and it just does not fully add up. Many things were not discussed further (Motown 25, why MJ left Motown, the exclusion of Randy Jackson of Jackson Five, Quincy, to name a few).
Even emotionally, it plays it safe. It rarely lets anything breathe. Outside of the performance sequences where Jaafar fully locks into MJ mode, the film keeps you at arm’s length.
A biopic or a tribute?
If you are expecting a full deep dive into Michael Jackson’s life, you are not getting that here.
This is not a biopic in the serious sense. It is more like a tribute show with cinematic lighting.
A very polished, very controlled celebration of the music, the myth and the image. Not even Diana Ross (mentor/protégé at Motown and an intimate friend of MJ) nor Janet Jackson (she declined) were featured in the movie.
And that is where the “cash grab” conversation starts to make sense.
There are obvious gaps. Things that feel avoided. Things that feel carefully shaped. It leans more toward an estate-approved highlight reel than actual exploration of a real human life.
You can feel it in what is missing as much as what is shown.
Critics did not hold back either
And I am not the only one saying it.
The film is sitting around 41% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Most of the reviews say the same thing. Great performances, insane music, weak story.
Some called it a filmed playlist in search of a story. Some called it empty calories. Some said it feels like a Wikipedia walk-through of MJ’s early career.
But even the harshest reviews keep landing on the same point. Jaafar Jackson is the reason this works at all.
So is it Bad?
Not really.
I mean, not in a simple way.
If you are a fan, this is a damn good time. Big screen, loud sound, full crowd, pure vibes. This is exactly the kind of movie you go to IMAX for.
But the moment you start breaking it down as a film, especially the storytelling and historical side, it starts to fall apart.
It does not dig deep. It does not challenge. It does not really try to go beyond the surface.
And maybe it never wanted to.
Final score: 8/10. (Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score right now is 96%, which, in my opinion, shows how much people care and what they want).
A worthy cash grab. But still a cash grab.
