Michael (2026) Review

 

Michael tells the story of Michael Jackson and his life from 1966 with the forming of the Jackson 5 to his solo Bad tour in 1988.

Jafar Jackson, who is the nephew of Michael Jackson, portrays Michael, and he does a pretty spot-on performance, not only in physical resemblance but also in mannerisms, voice, and especially the dance choreography; like, at certain points, it feels like you could be watching actual concert footage of Michael back in the day.

Coleman Domingo portrays his father, Joe Jackson, who also gives a standout performance. He brings a menacing charisma and believable intimidation to the role but also some subtle nuances that don’t necessarily vindicate Joe but do show that he is a very complicated person… But mostly a dick, lol.

I do wish they had explored a little bit more of Michael’s brothers in the movie, because they’re mostly treated as background characters and more like Michael’s bandmates than his actual brothers; it would’ve been nice to see them have more distinct personalities and their personal relationship with Michael, especially since so many of them produced the movie; it could’ve been interesting to see their own personal connection to their brother.

The makeup department did a fantastic job making everyone resemble their real-life counterpart, although there were certain shots that they were trying to make Joe look menacing with him, in the shadow and creeping about, that made him look like Blackula, like I had expected him to try and suck Michael’s blood 😂, but that was probably a connection only I made.

Antoine Fuqua directed, and he brought a very slick, fast-paced style to the film, got strong performances out of the entire cast, and did a very impressive job at not only creating iconic

Michael Jackson music videos and concerts, but at making you feel like you are actually there, which brings a strong crowd-pleasing element to the film, which I'm sure many audiences will enjoy.

Miles Teller plays Michael’s manager (John Branca), and while he doesn’t have a whole lot of screen time, the actor uses his screen time effectively.

I was also quite impressed with Juliano Krue Valdi, who plays young Michael, and for someone so young, he was really good at the dance choreography and recreating Michael’s dance moves, not to mention bringing a lot of emotion and charm to the role. He's not in the film a whole lot; I could see him going on to bigger things.

The decorators and costume department both did an excellent job at re-creating the 70s and 80s; everything seemed very time period accurate.

Now there are many different types of biopics, and this film feels less like an exploration of the actual guy and more of a love letter to the music icon, which isn’t a necessary or bad thing, but Michael was such a huge and complex person. I was hoping to see more of a grounded, natural look at the man himself, but throughout so much of the film, they show Michael in such a saintly light; he feels less like a person and more like a mythic figure.

For example, one of the side characters is Michael’s bodyguard (Bill Bray), who really doesn’t have much in the movie to do besides walk beside Michael and every so often see Michael do something nice and just smile and nod his head like, “Boy, that Michael is a special kind of guy. He’s just so good, clean, and wholesome, so it doesn’t feel like you’re learning anything new about how it really was; instead, it feels like you’re watching a sanitized version of events.

Also, this movie has the exact same structure and story beats as Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox story… And that was a parody of biofilms from almost 20 years ago, so it’s a little surreal to see something that was played for comedy now played for drama.

Bubbles the monkey appears in the film and the recreation using CGI, which looks good, but it did take me out of the film a little, like you can clearly tell they’re interacting with a CGI creature, and I wish I had just gotten an actual monkey to make it feel more realistic. Plus, they're really trying to play up the cute factor, giving Bubbles really big wide eyes and always having to make really cute faces, almost like he’s Michael’s cute "Grogu"-type sidekick. But he’s not in the move a whole lot, and what they have them do isn’t too bad, so it really isn’t that distracting.

The music was all right, kind of mid… Just kidding, it’s Michael Jackson music, so the soundtrack was definitely a big standout and a lot of fun.

Don King appears in the film in a small scene with him and Joe Jackson, and both actors do a good job, but both are trying to out-"sinister" the other in their performance that I have expected them to grow horns and have lightning strike while they’re cackling lol.

The pacing was pretty good; I never felt the length of the film, and things moved at a pretty brisk pace.

Also, like Bohemian Rhapsody, Mike Myers has a small cameo that I did not realize it was him until I saw the credit. If I had a dime for every musical biopic feature Mike Myers in a small cameo that I do not realize until the credits… I would have two, which is a lot, but still an interesting coincidence lol.

In summation, I was hoping for a more unique and original bio story, since there’s so much unique material for them to tackle with Michael Jackson’s life, and the movie instead plays it safe by telling a more traditional and standard biopic. Not to say the cast and crew didn’t do an impressive job and put a lot of hard work into the film; they did. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for more originality. I give “Michael” an enthusiastic 3 1/2 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 again; for a more regular audience, they’ll have fun with this movie and not have as many nitpicks as me; it’s a good crowd pleaser.