JaD

A lot of people don't even know how the allegations against Michael Jackson started. But in 1993, a jealous dad in an ugly custody battle bragged about his plan to extort him. Watch Square One to learn what actually happened & see why people trended #MichaelJacksonVindicated

My “Michael” review (Spoilers!) Seeing Michael's feet walking into frame from his famous production company logo on the big screen in 2026 was special. Then just a moment later seeing his nephew's feet walking with the same outfit toward a Bad performance in London was an incredible way to start the film. From the moment Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' started playing over the opening credits, hearing MJ's iconic "Hee hee!"s & "Whoo!"s, it was a special feeling that put a smile on my face to hear MJ on the big screen. This smile stayed on my face throughout the movie. As a lifelong MJ fan who has put in so much effort & work into defending his legacy from fraudulent allegations, washed up publications, & unemployed parasites, it's hard to come off as a non-biased review. But I can look at this movie honestly in 2 ways. The film critic in me that sat on one shoulder during the movie, enjoying it but also whispering my issues with it, while the MJ fan on my other spinning & dancing on the other. They for the most part both enjoyed it immensely. But first things first, a 2hr movie about Michael Jackson, even if it was condensed to cover just 30 years of his life is IMPOSSIBLE. I’m a big fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise & I would have been Ok with them calling this movie, Michael: Impossible. It’s just not happening. That’s something that should be accepted by any MJ fan going into this movie. We are going to be let down because they didn’t cover this aspect of his life, or glossed over that. It’s even possible that 3 hours may not have been enough. How much time is reasonable in covering one of the greatest & most complex artists to have ever lived? So this film does suffer from a bit of a pacing issue in that there are a few sections of the film that feel like we do a speed run through. Some areas that are glossed over will be debated differently between fans, as far what should have been the focus for this or that part of his life, or why something or someone wasn't covered, etc. Antoine Fuqua & co. had quite a tall task to take on. I absolutely commend them for the job they did & I think they succeeded in several areas but fell short in some. I’m not sure how much of that falls on the filmmakers however. The performances are AMAZING. From the first time Jaafar Jackson spoke as his late uncle, saying the words “Pure escapism, Quincy” my brother and I turned to each other in our theater seats with wide eyes. We then nodded at each other like “Ok. Yeah.” I think we both heard Michael Jackson in that moment, and he did not disappoint in any way. Jaafar is a revelation in this film & this being his first film is a testament to his talent. I can’t imagine the work & effort it took to do this type of role. We’re not just talking about acting in front of a camera for the first time, but capturing the magic in performing as his late uncle onstage, then offstage with his mannerisms & voice. He mentioned that he worked for years to prepare for this film & it absolutely shows. This is truly one of the most incredible accomplishments for not just a first time actor, but for an actor in general. He truly deserves recognition for his work in this film. Colman Domingo as the Devil, I mean Joseph Jackson was also amazing. You could feel & understand why MJ from the time he was a small boy would not look Joseph in the eye, even when he was told to. I didn’t see either Jaafar Jackson or Colman Domingo in the roles they played, they disappeared into them. Don’t sleep on the subtle but strong performance from Nia Long as Katherine Jackson either. And Juliano as a young Michael was another shining light in this already bright film with several stars. KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray was great casting as well & him having such a prominent role in this film like he did in Michael’s real life was so important & nice to see too. The surrounding cast all shined in their roles. Even the fantastic Mike Myers in a small cameo had a single great scene that was fun but highlighted a tall hurdle that MJ had to overcome in his rise to stardom. I always felt that one of the most important things for this film to succeed for me critically was the balance between music/performances & story. For me, the priority was always his story. The side the public never saw, the hurdles he had to overcome, his genius, his strengths, his flaws. All of these could be highlighted through the scenes where we turn the lights off on the stage & have a moment with Michael, his family, people close to him. In that regard, the scales tipped just a little more toward the music & performances over story for me. That’s where my biggest criticism over this movie needing more time comes in. An extra 30-45 minutes could have elevated this movie to an even higher & epic level. But it seems like what may have been the case here is a studio stepping in, probably mandating a 2hr runtime so that they can get as many showtimes & tickets sold as possible, & this is where the film suffers for it. In no way, shape or form, do I think the film suffered as poorly as some bad-faith reviewers have tried to make this film out to be. Sure, maybe I sound like a fanboy but when you understand how poorly MJ was treated by the media for decades, how wrong am I? Using Rolling Stone as an example, they had a very poor review for this film, and shortly after, released an article trying to promote a provenly false “documentary” about allegations made against the singer. Are you really going to say that that’s normal? Was this type of thing done with Freddie Mercury & Bohemian Rhapsody? Elton John & Rocketman? Elvis & … Elvis? Did they release an article describing how Elvis married a 14yr old? Or did they prop him up & celebrate him? I’m sorry, I completely went off track there. Whoosahhh. Michael Jackson deserves to be celebrated & the love I’ve seen for him in theaters with people’s reactions to this film are special to see & helping with my anger management from some reviewers letting their horns show. I even saw a social media post of a bunch of nuns going to see the movie together, how cool is that? While this movie is not without flaws, I think they achieved something special here. But the hardcore MJ fan in me who has studied & learned so much of his life knows that there was so much left out or glossed over in this film. It deserved more depth & substance. And that’s not to say this movie disrespected him, but leaving out such crucial details about the greatest artist to ever live feels like a slight disservice to him. But like I mentioned at the start, this movie could have been called Michael: Impossible. Some things needed to be left out. At the end of the day this comes down to the running time of the film. This movie had no business having a studio stepping in to cut what was reported to be a 4hr movie down to 2hrs, with several key people of his life not appearing or even mentioned. Of course we would never see a 4hr movie in theaters but 2hrs isn’t enough here. For example, I understand that for whatever reason, Diana Ross apparently stepped in with legal action asking to be removed from the film. Why? Hmm, who knows 🤔. I know their relationship could be seen as… “interesting” to some but she was a key person in MJ’s life & she is not even mentioned. And in relation to that, I was surprised that there were no women of MJ’s life in this film. I think the only woman he showed interest in was the singer who brushed his face before he went onstage at the Regal Theatre as a child. I supposed that’s not entirely important for this first film but there were certainly moments & points of his life that I wish could have been addressed. For example, Jumping from the Jackson 5 to Off The Wall is bananas. There is a lot they decided to skip over, could this have been fixed & improved? Perhaps, just a little more time or maybe a montage during the I’ll Be There performance at the fair? While I thought the transition itself was beautiful in showing a grown up Michael with Quincy, oof magoof did we skip about 6 steps up the staircase to Bad. No true introduction to Quincy Jones, no leaving Motown, no The Wiz, nothing really about his time in New York in the late 70s. Other things I’m sure. I also thought it would have been great to shine a light on the great team around MJ who helped elevate Thriller after the first cut of the album wasn’t good enough. We should have seen those obstacles he had to overcome when they didn’t believe in it. Similar to the amazing scene of MJ speaking to the gangsters I would have loved to see something similar with his team at the studio with Bruce Swedien, Quincy & company when they had to remix the album. I suppose you can summarize this during the montage that we did get in the film but a lot of people don’t know the details of these things. I would have also loved if they began to touch on the media’s treatment of MJ with tabloids & how it affected him. Maybe this could be more focused in Part II starting around the Bad era & his vitiligo becoming more severe, but even showing MJ seeing tabloids mocking him for getting Bubbles or a nose job could have been a start. I would hope for the younger generation to understand the media’s unfair treatment & criticism of MJ once his star began to truly rise. Imagine if they included some meta humor in this film where they criticize the media’s review for Thriller, almost a wink at the camera for the critics who would probably poorly rate the film they were watching now in 2026. That would have been fun if this movie went full-on Matrix: Resurrections type humor for a moment. 😆 But yes, I think this movie could have put more time into things that are important in learning his evolution as an artist. His creative process in creating his dancing. How he worked on improving his vocals once his voice began to change as he got older. More about his vitiligo & how it affected him in private as it began to worsen. There appeared to be nothing about his lupus in the film either which was surprising. They also seemed to change the origin of his nose job & kept it strictly towards improving his appearance. From my understanding the first time he got a nose job he had broke his nose in a fall? We know that Joe was cruel to him about his appearance but I’m not sure if that needed to be changed to an obsession over being “perfect”. I was also not completely onboard with Joe being this villain throughout the entire film. While he was certainly abusive, controlling, & mostly business, MJ spoke with a lot of respect & appreciation for him in helping shape him into the artist & man he became. I suppose it’s possible that a potential redemption arc for Joe could be saved for a Part 2, but I hope they don’t keep him as this Jheri Curl twirling villain scheming in his lair throughout. My hope is that there’s a chance we could get a Director’s Cut someday. If there is any artist that deserves a 3hr cut of a film to cover 30 years of his life, it’s Michael Jackson. We need to pray for a Lord Of The Rings type Extended Edition, I wish I was kidding. Michael: King Of The Pops Extended Edition. ⚔️ But overall, there is so much to praise and highlight in this movie. Obviously the performances, but even the makeup was incredible, wardrobe, the structure, the production design, the attention to detail in recreating famous performances. The Thriller short film, my God was that amazing, can we get all the footage released someday as its own Jaafar Edition? The build-up to that short film was so much fun, & MJ stopping the performance shortly after it started was hilarious. I would have liked to see more of MJ as a Jehovah’s Witness & the conflict it presented in creating the Thriller video. I believe we only had a single line from Katherine that mentioned Jehovah. The Beat It segment was also such a raw & fascinating look at how he would have let his creative process operate. I would have loved another scene like this as well, perhaps his preparation for Motown 25. Seeing him in private in his own dance studio creating that masterpiece would have been another look into his genius. And I was so appreciative for how much they emphasized how damaging the Pepsi burn was. Even I learned something as I wasn’t completely aware of just how severe it was. His time in the hospital was sad, powerful, & moving. And his time in visiting sick children & burn victims meant so much to see. He is in the Guiness World Records for Philanthropy for a reason & I’m glad this was shown. For those who know him, he had a pure heart who truly wanted to Heal The World. Where this film falls a little short for me with substance it is completely elevated by its performances & penmanship in this love letter to Michael Jackson & his fans around the world. I’ve seen some people calling this film sanitized, I definitely don’t agree with that. That implies that they intentionally take out some of the negative to keep this clean & release a puff piece. I don’t think that’s the case here, it does touch on several heavy topics of MJ’s life, just not as much as what I or others may think as being enough. That’s not sanitized, that’s an incredible story that is cut unfairly short & hurt in editing. Like I mentioned, I think something like an extra 30 minutes or so could have truly helped this movie reach another level. I loved this film, have seen it 3x and plan to probably see it a few more times in theaters. Each viewing has gotten better for but I will still be wishing there was a bit more depth & that the scale tipped a little more toward story instead of music & performances. Mostly a critique of the runtime when it comes down to it. The MJ fan in me gives this movie a 9/10, and the film critic in me gives it a 7.5/10. Both very good reactions & feelings for a movie that had me smiling & rocking in my seat throughout. I was smiling, sad & emotional, laughing, & dancing in my seat. Congrats to Jaafar, Antoine & the entire cast & crew for a remarkable job with Michael. I can’t wait for Part 2 as I’m sure we’ll be getting that. And what do we have to do to get the Extended King Of Pop Edition? Do we need to start a #ReleaseTheFuquaCut trend? 😆 #MichaelMovie

There's a Moonwalk emote in the game Skate that even plays some gibberish sounding Michael Jackson-ish knockoff song in the background😆. Perfect emote for this weekend after seeing Michael 3x 🔥

I would have loved if the credits showed home movies/pics of MJ. Rehearsing & playing as kids, w/ Bill, visiting hospitals, other pics/clips showing him offstage. I'd die laughing if they had the "Salvation Army tomorrow Bill" 😆. I hope they consider it for the 2nd film. #MichaelMovie

Now we need to greenlight "Janet" so we can get a whole Jackson Cinematic Universe thing going on. We can start building the JCU & explore everyone. Hell, let's get a Bubbles movie too, is Andy Serkis available? #MichaelMovie