VLOG - Michael

Añadido: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]How you doing everybody? Today we are taking a quick look at Michael directed by Antoine Fukqua and starring Jafar Jackson and Coleman Domingo. This movie is about the life and times of the king of pop Michael Jackson starting with his childhood and ending in 1988 because nothing of significance happened in his life after that. Even if you have not seen the movie yourself, I'm sure you have all heard the story about how this movie does not mention Michael Jackson's alleged sex crimes at all. And that is absolutely true. And the damnedest thing is I knew it going in and yet somehow it still shocked me. And at least to some extent I shouldn't have been shocked. I mean biopics are generally not made to be honest. There are exceptions of course. Better man comes to mind but especially when it's a postumous biopic with involvement from the family, it's going to be sanitized. And I fully expected Michael to be sanitized. But I was still shocked by just how much. And it is so obvious who did not agree to be a part of this movie because according to the story told by this movie, Joe and Kathy Jackson did not have any more children after Michael. Janet Randy never existed. It's especially weird to not see Randy in the movie because he was part of the Jackson's Victory Tour, which is depicted in the movie, but he's just not there. Bubbles the chimp has more screen time than Michael's younger siblings. Now, I'm not 100% certain about Randy, but I do recall reading that Janet explicitly asked not to be included, and I can't say I blame her.

[00:01:29]Now, supposedly, these sex abuse allegations were going to be mentioned, at least to some extent, to show the impact it had on his musical career, but supposedly they found a clause in Michael's settlement with one of his alleged victims that prevented them from mentioning him at all. Now, I have not seen this clause, and even if I had, I'm not a lawyer. I'm not the right person to tell you whether it was airtight or not. I will let people much smarter than I am decide if their hands were really tied or if the Jackson estate was simply looking for a way out and found it. But whether their hands were legally tied or not, if you're going to make a movie about Michael Jackson and not mention any of this stuff at all, what is even the point? For better or worse, that was a huge moment in Michael's life. And to act like it just never happened feels dishonest. And it's not just the alleged sex crimes. This movie largely avoids any criticism of Michael Jackson at all to a ridiculous degree. One of the last things we see in the movie is the Jackson's victory tour. And during the last stop on the tour, in the middle of the damn concert, Michael announces completely off the cuff that this is their farewell performance. And after this, he is going completely solo. And supposedly that is actually how it went down. Michael just announced in the middle of the show, out of the blue, he's not making any more music with his brothers. But the weird thing is in the movie only Michael's father seems to have a problem with this. All of his brothers are absurdly cool with it. And I am so calling [ __ ] on that. I could see them being cool with it if he had discussed this with them ahead of time and they had time to come to terms with it. But that's not how it went down. Pretty much the only person in the movie that is portrayed in a bad light to any degree is Joe Jackson. Not that he doesn't deserve it, mind you. He was an abusive prick and he is probably in the bad place right now. Although I'm not so sure Michael isn't down there with him. The movie is not exactly going for historical accuracy. I already mentioned there are Jackson children that just don't exist in this movie and there are other things. The movie seems to suggest Offthe-Wall was Michael's first solo album. It was his first as an adult, but overall it was actually his fifth. And the movie focuses a lot on how badly Joe did not want Michael going solo, which is kind of weird because he wasn't the only Jackson who pursued a solo career. Germaine also had one. And the movie acknowledges this, but it's almost treated like an afterthought. The movie also repeats the claim that Billy Jean was the first video on MTV by a black artist, which it was not. It was one of the first, but not the first.

[00:03:58]There's also a point in the movie where it suggests Michael started wearing the one glove to hide his vitiligo.

[00:04:04]I think I'm saying that right. I always want to say vitiligo, but that's not right. Uh, the problem with this is Michael A, doesn't always wear the glove, and b when he does, it's not always on the same hand. So, I that that just felt weird. There's also some stuff in the movie that's a little confusing and probably could have used an extra line of dialogue to explain a thing or two. For example, the Jackson's final tour in the movie is called the Victory Tour. Never explained where the name comes from. If you didn't already know going in, you'd have to look up online that Victory was the name of the Jackson's final album. And oddly enough, they did not play any songs from that album on the tour. Now, there is some stuff that they did right. The last thing we see in the movie is Michael Turing in support of the Bad album and he is performing the song Bad at Wembley Stadium to a massive crowd and they are going absolutely nuts for the guy. Women are fainting in the front row. It is insane to watch. And if you weren't around at the height of Michael Jackson's popularity, it might seem comically exaggerated. As someone who was around back then, it's not. He really was that big a deal back then.

[00:05:11]The dude had a prime time special on network TV every time he put out a music video. There was a time that Michael Jackson could do no wrong until he did allegedly. But even with the stuff this movie does right, it's a very flawed movie. And I think my biggest problem with it is that it just doesn't have much to say. This is a biopic in search of a story. Maybe they had a story until they realized they couldn't talk about the sex abuse allegations. And there's kind of a story during the part of the movie that covers Michael's childhood, but once he grows up, they got nothing.

[00:05:43]I swear Michael gives the exact same monologue about what he wants to do with his musical career multiple times throughout the movie. We really did not need to hear it more than once, but I guess they had to fill time. And the last half hour of the movie is really just an extended concert film. Like, they ran out of ideas. And then after that final musical performance, the movie just ends. Although it does say his story continues, which makes me wonder, is this a part one? Because it was never advertised as a part one as far as I'm aware. I will say Jafar Jackson, who is Michael's nephew and plays Michael in the movie, does a hell of a job. He really nailed Michael's voice and his mannerisms and especially the dancing. And Michael was an incredible dancer. He did stuff that seemed to defy gravity and friction, several laws of physics really. And unsurprisingly, Coleman Domingo is also really good in this as Joe Jackson. That guy is just so easy to hate. Even though, as I have said before, Domingo is the coolest [ __ ] walking God's green earth. And of course, the soundtrack is great. For a musical biopic, it should be. And often selling that music is the point of these movies.

[00:06:50]But you don't need to watch the movie to hear the music. You can just go listen to the music. Overall, I don't know if this is the worst musical biopic I've seen, but it is the most pointless one.

[00:07:00]If you're gonna make a movie about Michael Jackson and stop at 1988, just why bother? In fact, that's my response.

[00:07:06]If you're wondering whether you should see this movie in theaters, why bother?

[00:07:10]At best, I would say wait for streaming.

[00:07:13]And that's all I have to say about Michael. Till next time, take care.