Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. April 28, 2026 3:55 PM
Despite his tragic death at the age of fifty in 2009 from a drug overdose and some disturbing allegations that have continued to muddy his legacy, Michael Jackson has managed to maintain his position as one of the biggest global pop music stars on the planet. The biographical musical drama, "Michael", capably directed by Antoine Fuqua, focuses on the singer's life from childhood as the highlight of the popular singing group with his brothers, the Jackson 5 to him going on to become even more famous as a solo artist after anxiously breaking free from the tight grip of his manager who also happened to be his father. With Graham King, who was the producer behind the rock band, Queen's bombastic yet neutered bio-pic, "Bohemian Rhapsody", John Branca, Jackson's former attorney and co-executor of the estate and the participation by most of the Jackson family all on board, "Michael" is slickly packaged, visually stunning propaganda, presenting a Jackson that fans would want to believe existed: gifted, enigmatic, quirky, a little sad but relatively harmless.
The film wastes no time jumping us straight into Gary, Indiana in 1966 where we witness the conflict between Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo) and his five sons, Jackie (Nathaniel Logan McIntyre), Tito (Judah Edwards), Jermaine (Jayden Harville), Marlon (Jaylen Lyndon Hunter) and the youngest, Michael (Juliano Krue Valdi). He has assembled his children as a musical act and believes that in order to achieve success, they must constantly rehearse. But since they are kids, this isn't how they really want to spend all their time doing. However, Joseph, frustrated at his job at a steel mill, wants a better life for his family and isn't asking them, expecting his boys to obey otherwise face being beaten into submission.
Their first break comes two years later while opening for Gladys Knight (Liv Symone) and the Pips when the Jackson boys catch the attention of Suzanne de Passe (Laura Harrier), an executive at Motown Records. They are signed to the label, named "The Jackson 5", record their debut album and become an instant sensation. While they are a group, it is Michael, who is the lead singer, that receives the most recognition. Shy and timid off stage, Michael's confidence as a person (and later as an artist) is helped by Motown founder, Berry Gordy (Larenz Tate) who takes the young boy under his wing, guiding him on how the recording process works.
Years later, the Jacksons have left Motown and signed with Epic Records. Now a young man, Michael (played by Jaafar Jackson) is ready to make another solo album and teams with Quincy Jones (Kendrick Sampson) to produce. "Off The Wall" becomes a best-selling smash hit but Michael isn't able to fully enjoy his success because Joseph, who still manages his son's career, expects him to hit the road with his brothers to promote their album. Michael begins to take steps to try and control his own life: first by having surgery to make his nose smaller and then hiring John Branca (Miles Teller) as his attorney and has him fire his father as his manager. Then Michael begins recording his follow-up album with Jones which will be called "Thriller".
Since the estate of the pop singer was behind the production of this film, it was clear that "Michael" was never going to be an in-depth and revealing examination into who Jackson actually was and his turbulent personal history. The film, with a serviceable screenplay by John Logan, simply rehashes the familiar details of his career that many people are probably already fully aware. The only revelation I learned from this film was how severely Michael had been injured during the filming of the Pepsi commercial when a spark from the pyrotechnics sets his hair on fire, actually leaving him with third-degree burns on his scalp and nerve damage. Fuqua, who has made his career as a proficient filmmaker who was behind "Training Day" and "The Equalizer", doesn't try to elevate this movie with any artistic flourishes instead just sticks to the basics in his storytelling, briskly taking us from point A to point B, leaving no room for introspection.
Jaafar Jackson (the nephew of Michael and son of Jermaine) does make a dynamic impression with his acting debut playing his uncle. With an obvious advantage of having a family resemblance, his performance also captures the soft spoken, sweet-natured side of Jackson while expertly recreating some of the dazzling dance moves and musical highlights of the chart-topping artist with the singing in the film is largely from Michael's recordings. Domingo, buried under heavy prosthetics, does what he can with the one-note villain role of Joseph. But since there's nothing revealed about what made this ruthless man tick, we simply witness him terrorizing and manipulating everyone in his orbit with his horrid behavior. Nia Long appears as the matriarch of the family, Katherine Jackson who isn't given much to do or say beyond looking grave and concerned as she silently watches her husband abuse their children.
It is quite jarring that several key members of the Jackson family are treated like they just don't exist (most notably the second most famous Jackson, Janet) in this movie. But the rest of the Jacksons who did agree to appear in "Michael" are largely just shadows, with nothing made known about them and are simply filling up space around the actual star of this story when needed. And an unrecognizable Mike Myers makes a very brief appearance as Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson's label, CBS Records who plays a vital part in helping take the performer to the next level by getting his videos played on MTV, which had largely refused to run Black artists, by threatening to pull all of the label's acts from the music channel.
"Michael" ends after his final tour with his brothers, completely severing professional ties with his family and begins his first solo tour in 1988. This means that this film doesn't deal with any of the child sexual abuse accusations against Jackson which began about five years later. There had been plans originally to include the allegations and scenes were apparently shot. But after "Michael" had been nearly completed, the producers were informed that they could not mention the accuser due to a clause in the settlement. You would have thought that since this was such an extremely sensitive subject matter that the production's legal team would have made some effort to look into this long before the cameras rolled.
Due to the overwhelming and expected success of "Michael" (with a half billion dollars earned at the global box-office to date and still growing), there is a follow-up planned of Jackson's story which will continue with his career and apparently deal with some of the more unsavory aspects that occurred later in the pop superstar's life. But much like this well made yet colorless bio-pic, there isn't any expectation that the sequel will dig too deep nor make Jackson appear in any way that would actually make him seem deceitful or threatening. "Michael" was never intended to disrupt the connection between the last King of Pop and his devoted and loyal fanbase. This film was supposed to serve as a solid and entertaining reminder of the extraordinary talent and enduring influence of Michael Jackson, never to tarnish his image or question his morals. And with that, "Michael" largely succeeds.
