Michael (2026) Movie Review

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:01]All right. So, I just pulled up to the theater getting ready to check out the new Michael Jackson film. Michael, I hope it's good. It didn't It's not getting good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I don't believe everything they say anyway. IGN didn't like it either, but I'm going to be the judge. I'm just planning to go in here to have a good time, vibe to the music, and hopefully enjoy the story. Although, I know there's going to be some stuff that's left out. So, you know, we gonna go in here. We gonna see see what it is. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a good time with this film anyway cuz you know I'm a huge MJ fan. I loved his music. So we're going to go ahead and check out this film and I'll come back with the review.

[00:00:37]All right guys, so let's go ahead and jump right on into the start of this review and let's open this up with the plot.

[00:00:46]This movie focuses on Michael. I mean this is his movie after all.

[00:00:52]The Jackson 5, they're here, but this is Michael's story.

[00:00:59]Yeah, the Jackson 5, they're they're not really They're here, but they're How do I say this?

[00:01:08]They're here, but they're not here very much, I guess, is the easiest way I can say that.

[00:01:15]So, this movie is mostly um Michael's um solo rise and his not so good relationship with his dad, Joe Jackson.

[00:01:28]And before anybody asks, yes, they do leave a lot out of this film.

[00:01:40]Let's get into the acting. And I can really only like pinpoint a couple of the actors here.

[00:01:49]Starting with Jafar Jackson as Michael Jackson.

[00:01:55]He did an amazing job.

[00:01:58]The um as far as I know, this is his first acting gig and he was um able to portray the role of his uncle Michael Jackson. That's a big role to take on and I think Jafar Jackson does a fantastic job.

[00:02:13]There's like even a scene in this movie where um Jafarz Michael is um downstairs watching a movie with his mother and he goes and gets like popcorn and they start eating it together and it looks pretty much just like the um shot of Michael Jackson minus the uh Thriller jacket. It looks just like the shot of Michael Jackson in the thriller video, like when he's gobbling down the popcorn and smiling and enjoying the horror film. And uh you know, that scene made me smile actually cuz that's what it reminded me of.

[00:02:49]And I think Jafar Jackson like totally owns this role. You know, the sound is there.

[00:02:55]He smiles just like Michael Jackson.

[00:02:59]And especially, you know, the choreography, you know, there are some there are some dance routines where I think the choreography might have been like slightly changed, but it's still pretty amazing. So, I definitely got to give two thumbs up to Jafar Jackson for this role.

[00:03:17]And I don't know if I'm saying this dude's name right or not. Coleman Domingo as Joe Jackson. He did a pretty good job, too.

[00:03:25]Actually, he did a really good job.

[00:03:28]But um he's very unlikable in this movie, but you know that's that's his job. That's what he's supposed to play.

[00:03:33]And I think uh you know I think he nails this role.

[00:03:39]I don't want to use the word perfectly cuz you know that might be taking it a bit far, but um yeah, he does a damn good job.

[00:03:48]And the other person I'm going to point out is Nia Long as um Katherine, Michael Jackson's mother. She does a really good job in here, too. Very likable character. You know, it's Nia Long. I'm I'm a big fan of her stuff. Very attractive actress.

[00:04:05]Um, she does a pretty good job here, too. Now, I don't know the name of the young actor who who plays uh young Michael Jackson, but seriously, I kind of wanted more more of the younger Michael because that's how good of a job this young actor was doing. He did a very good job, too.

[00:04:25]So, I'm not even going to do like an MVP section of this review. I'm just going to say it. The MVP of this movie, you know what? I gota I got to go ahead and say in this movie, there's two MVPs. I'm going to say it's Jafar Jackson and it's the young actor that plays um Young Michael because honestly, I'd have been okay with the film where we spend like equally as much time with both. That's how much I enjoyed these performances.

[00:04:52]And everybody else is just like kind of there. I mean, you got, you know, Loren Tate, he's there for a bit and they all do fine, but you know, this is Michael's movie.

[00:05:04]So, you know, obviously Michael's going to be the standout. So, I'm pointing out the two best actors in the film aside from Jafar Jackson and the young Michael Jackson actor.

[00:05:20]And I do think these performances are the key to the film.

[00:05:24]As far as the look of this film, this film looks great.

[00:05:29]It looks great.

[00:05:32]It definitely feels like you're at a concert most of the time. You know, the lighting, the stage, it's all here. It's great.

[00:05:45]My favorite part of this movie has to be the buildup to the beat it music video.

[00:05:53]And the choreography in there, seriously, this scene here like brought a huge smile to my face. You know, the performance for Beat It also did. You know, that's one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs. But I absolutely loved the story that they were telling with the buildup um before they got to the video shoot for this one. That's my favorite part of the entire film.

[00:06:20]Okay. Even with me being like one of the biggest Michael Jackson fans ever, I still got to hit y'all with some cons.

[00:06:27]Unfortunately, I I try I sometimes I have to do this in every movie unless I just think a movie doesn't have them.

[00:06:32]But fortunately, this one does have some cons.

[00:06:37]Now, one con is this movie plays it way too damn safe.

[00:06:43]As I said before, they leave a lot out of this film. And this film is al like almost portraying Michael as like a perfect man.

[00:06:54]And we know Michael Jackson had his flaws. And I'm sure he even had them at the uh you know during the timeline this movie is covering. I'm sure he even had his flaws then.

[00:07:06]That was one of my only problems with this film is just how safe they were playing it. And it just it almost made Michael seem too perfect. And I don't even think Michael Jackson himself would want to be portrayed that way. I don't I mean there's a lot of songs that I really wanted in this movie that just weren't. But the way they set up the final song in this movie, I kind of thought that was worth it.

[00:07:36]And this is also to me hoping that we are going to get like another part of the story because of like where this film wraps up.

[00:07:46]So if that's the direction they're going, I'm okay with how it ended. But if they don't end up doing a second one, I can say overall I'm like slightly disappointed at the ending. So, I guess I'm gonna review this one, like when I come up with my final score for this movie, I'm going to review it as if my belief is that they're going to do a second part.

[00:08:14]So, why am I so okay with the ending?

[00:08:16]Well, going into this movie, I kind of knew what I was getting to into already.

[00:08:21]They did say that, you know, quite a bit was going to be left out and they did say that this movie was only going to cover like certain points. Like it told you what timeline it was going to cover.

[00:08:31]So, I went in knowing that and I mean that's why I really I ain't come out of the theater like too disappointed with it cuz you know I kind of went in knowing and you know I went into this film to have fun.

[00:08:47]And another reason I'm okay with this ending because you know and like this is a huge because if they are setting up for a sequel or for another part of the story. The thing is this would be from my understanding this would be the first time that biopic actually built up to a sequel.

[00:09:12]And I think that's what that's what's going to make this movie stand out above uh other biopics.

[00:09:19]Maybe not to some, but in my opinion, that just that's just going to make it stand out. And I'm curious to see what they're going to do next. I really hope we're going to get a sequel.

[00:09:29]All right, so with that being said, I guess it's kind of time for me to give my final thought and score on this movie. Now, for the story, even with people knowing like what timelines this is covering, I can see this upsetting some, but I knew what I was going into.

[00:09:51]One thing I can say about the entire runtime of this movie is that I was never ever bored. I smiled.

[00:09:58]I danced a lot. Oh, yeah. I danced a lot.

[00:10:04]and so did the person that I was sitting next to in the theater.

[00:10:12]And the end of this film, you know, it it it got it it especially got me excited because there's a recital that I'm going to be performing in in 3 weeks and the final song of this film is the song that I'm going to be um dancing to at the recital.

[00:10:34]So, that definitely got me hyped up for that.

[00:10:40]So, I guess it's time for me to just go ahead and give this movie a final score. And like I said, I'm reviewing this under the belief that we are going to get another movie.

[00:10:53]So, with that being said, aside from them just, you know, basically trying to point out, trying to show in this movie that Michael was perfect, which he was not, I can't give this a perfect score.

[00:11:10]So, I'm going to go ahead. I was leaning toward a 3.75, but just the fact that I had fun, I was dancing, I was smiling, I'm gonna go ahead and give Michael a four out of five. This movie is for fans like myself.

[00:11:27]That's who this movie is going to going to really uh going to stand out to.

[00:11:35]you know, everybody else that didn't know much about him. I could maybe see this disappointing him.

[00:11:41]Or maybe not. Maybe they'll just have fun with the music and all that, too.

[00:11:44]And maybe just those parts of his life.

[00:11:47]Maybe they're just going to have as maybe they're going to have as much fun as I did.

[00:11:52]But I'm going to stick with that score.

[00:11:53]I'm going to give Michael a four out of five. Um, excellent job from Jafar Jackson. And I do think anybody who loves, you know, music, especially like Michael Jackson's music, they need to go check out this film. Even if for nothing else, check it out for the music. Check it out for the uh choreography.

[00:12:10]You're going to have a fun time. I think I know I did.