Michael Reviews: Critics Slam 'Sanitised' And 'Uncomfortable' Michael Jackson Biopic

Critics have pulled no punches when it comes to the new Michael Jackson biopic.

The Billie Jean star’s nephew Jaafar Jackson takes the lead for most of the new movie, Michael, which was made in co-operation with the late singer’s estate.

As a result, the project has been described as “sanitised” by unimpressed critics, who have given it a smattering of one- and two-star reviews.

Indeed, many have taken issue with the fact that Michael ends in the late 1980s, meaning most of the controversies surrounding its subject – including multiple allegations of child sex abuse – are not broached.

However, it should be pointed out that the film hasn’t been unanimously slated, with numerous critics for some of the leading American entertainment outlets generally praising Michael.

Ahead of its release late this week, here’s a selection of what critics are saying about Michael…

BBC Culture (1/5) 

“It’s bad. It’s bad. It’s really, really bad. The new Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, is produced by several of his relatives and close associates, so no one expected it to be a searing portrait of the controversial star. But it’s still surprising that they’ve made such a bland and barely competent daytime TV movie.”

The Guardian (2/5)

“Antoine Fuqua’s demi-biopic of Michael Jackson gives you the chimp, the llama, the giraffe… but not the elephant in the living room [...] this is a frustratingly shallow, inert picture, a kind of cruise-ship entertainment, which can’t quite bring itself to show that Michael was an abuse victim, brutalised by his father and robbed of his childhood. Perhaps this is because it would have a cause-and-effect implication, gesturing tactlessly at the story’s second half…”

The Independent (1/5) 

“It resists story in favour of content, in making sure fans see what they expect to see, whether that be the Thriller video or Bad performed live at Wembley in 1988. In that respect, it’s hardly unique, but there’s a particular ghoulishness in applying that mentality to a figure as profoundly complex as Jackson.”

Empire (2/5) 

“Hugely impressive musical and dance performances from the two young men playing Michael Jackson cannot shake off the uncomfortable fact that there is an entire other side to the pop star’s story which is entirely conspicuous by its absence here.”

The Times (1/5)

“This is the quintessential Trump-era film, where difficult truths are met with bold-faced mendacity and where the director Antoine Fuqua and the screenwriter John Logan have met the challenges of the Jackson story by simply drowning it in quasi-Christian [...] bullshit.”

The Telegraph (2/5) 

“Michael is a Part One that pretends its Part Two doesn’t exist: a structurally complete film that tells only half a story [...] it is simply not credible for a film to claim to be about Michael Jackson without addressing, even obliquely, the accusations, controversies and sadness that dogged his later life. You don’t have to dramatise these things; you should, at least, acknowledge or foreshadow them.”

Radio Times (2/5) 

“This is a film made by people who appear not to know the meaning of the word ‘subtle’ [...] it goes on, drifting from one underwritten scene to the next, airbrushing incidents and figures integral to them, for fear they get in the way of keeping the spotlight on Michael in admittedly impressively staged musical sequences or, less impressively, mawkish utterances about making the world a better place.”

Rolling Stone

“This isn’t really a biopic. This is the Passion of St. Michael, rendered with great fidelity to and emphasis on both Jackson’s undeniable suffering and equally undeniable talent.”

IndieWire (C-) 

“That Michael skirts around the controversies, legal troubles, and horrifying allegations that marked the entertainer’s later years – and, for so many, have forever marred his legacy – isn’t a shock, as the film was supported and financially backed by Jackson’s estate.

“What does rankle, however, is that that by glossing over such matters, the final film has been mostly stripped of any humanity, good and bad.”

Slant (1.5/4) 

“As magnetic as Jaafar Jackson is during the film’s musical performances, he still can’t quite capture his uncle’s protean, preternatural talents [...] but even if he had, it would still be difficult to ignore just how much this almost surreally upbeat biopic looks at Michael Jackson with blinders on, turning the realities of a tragic, deeply complicated life into a sanitised popcorn film.”

Variety

“Simply put, this is not a movie about Michael Jackson’s dark side. Yet the surprise of Michael is how well it plays, and what an engrossing middle-of-the-road biopic it is. It’s basically an ’80s-TV-movie version of the Michael Jackson story with sharper acting and snazzier photography.”

The Hollywood Reporter

“If you are unwilling to separate the art from the artist, this will not be a movie for you. But for lifelong fans who cherish the music, the movie delivers. Simply as a celebration of Jackson’s songs and stagecraft, it’s phenomenal, shot by Dion Beebe with visual electricity in the performance sequences. The music has never sounded louder or better.”

USA Today (3/4) 

“The two actors who portray Jackson − Juliano Valdi as the budding Jackson 5 prodigy and Jaafar Jackson as the adult struggling to liberate himself from his father and achieve lofty ambitions – are marvels [...] Jaafar may share his late uncle’s megawatt smile, lithe frame and Bambi eyelashes. But his liquid dance moves – highlighted as he teaches gang members the footwork in the Beat It video − and soft-spoken cadence are studied to perfection. This is not about nepotism.”

Deadline

“The result is a fan’s delight if also a linear, rather predictable biopic that feels like the Wikipedia version of the complicated star’s life. It starts at the beginning and ends in the middle. Whether the story really continues depends, I suppose, on whether the Jacksons want to keep cashing in, even if it gets unsavoury.”

Michael arrives in cinemas on Friday 24 April.