4 min readApr 24, 2026 08:40 AM IST
“Who’s bad?”
Indeed.
For, this film about one of the greatest entertainers and pop stars of all time exists happily in his Neverland, to never take a peek at the dark side.
Director Antoine Fuqua known for his action films, and screenwriter John Logan whose range includes Gladiator and Skyfall, deliver you Michael Jackson the sequinned performer, and barely touch upon Michael the child who never had a childhood, Michael the adult who never grew up, Michael the alleged child abuser who could not shake off the charges, and Michael the man who unravelled and died too young. (Though a second part is promised.)
The eponymous character is played by Michael’s real-life nephew Jaafar as an adult (with a remarkable likeness to his uncle) and by Valdi as a child. Neither can break free of the check-boxed boundaries within which the film moves, no doubt because it bears the imprimatur of the Michael Jackson estate, with several family members credited as producers. (Which means one has doubts about the second part.)
In a strictly linear format, the film tracks Michael from the time he first tasted fame as just a 10-year-old, as the lead singer of The Jackson 5 group comprising his brothers, through his gradual break from his father’s stranglehold, to his emergence as an artist who filled stadiums and sent fans into frenzy.
Domingo single-handedly lifts the film on the acting front with his portrayal of Joseph, Michael’s pushy and exploitatively brute father, even as Long as the mother is a complete wallflower. The few supposedly “deep” dialogues she has with Michael, after some particularly painful episodes, are pathetically empty.
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Teller, for some reason, takes up a two-bit role of Michael’s counsel John Branca, who helps him get out of Joseph’s shackles. The only possible explanation is that Branca also is one of the film’s producers.
After his parents and maybe his brothers (who barely get a dialogue in), Michael has the closest relationship with his security guy, Billy (Jones). Besides of course, his chimp, llama, rat, snake and giraffe, who Michael holds close in lieu of the friends he never had. The closest he gets to children in the movie is when he visits them beatifically in cancer wards, reads stories to them (Yes, Peter Pan keeps popping up), signs autographs, or drops in at stores to scoop up the latest toys.
No one in his inner circle seems to worry about his lack of interest in adults and the other gender, or the amount of time he spends cooped up in his room overflowing with toys and albums.
So what did Michael dip into, to come out with those songs, those moves, that spectacle that were his performances? You won’t come away any wiser.
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However, you won’t come away unimpressed either, for the star that Michael Jackson was only has to take the stage for people across the world to feel the music (Jaafar channels that energy beautifully) – especially in your feet.
Let your head be. “Just beat it.”
Michael movie cast: Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi, Miles Teller, Kendrick Sampson, KeiLyn Durrel Jones
Michael movie director: Antoine Fuqua
Michael movie rating: 2.5 stars
