Party's review of "Michael" biopic

[PartySick 169,870]

The last thing the world needs is another person believing their opinion about something deserves it's own thread. But that's too bad

I've been a hardcore, obsessed MJ stan ever since I was a little baby graced with the musical stylings of Motown's best from my grandparents and when I got a little older, I was able to explore his solo career. "Dangerous" has been a staple on my life for as long as I can remember, especially "Will You Be There" which remains my favorite song of all time. And I still remember working for neighbors to save up enough money to go buy GTA Vice City and "Invincible" when I was like 7 or 8  

So, my take on this film as a bit of a hee hee expert? It was pretty alright!  

Some things of note:

Spoiler

I adored the music. The way they wrapped some of the motifs from his songs into the cinematic score really helped sell the more thoughtful moments. He was watching the news talk about gang violence and the softest notes played that were just recognizable enough to be clocked as "Human Nature". The camera panned across his face and he had this pensive expression. Powerful stuff. But the one that really got me good (actually made me cry lmao) was when he was alone in his room just staring at the Peter Pan book, tracing his fingers over the page, the face (nose?) specifically, and the most BEAUTIFUL bit of "Childhood" played  they clearly crafted that score with such love, it's a shame they often threw in a J5 or early MJ track to transition from scene to scene when they should have just let the composers cook.

Another moment that made me cry, of course, was Joseph's "discipline"  TMI but that aggressive, unstable childhood is the biggest similarity between me and Mike. It's why I have such deep empathy and love for him  But damn, the payoff at the end where Michael declares on stage that the Victory Tour is the Jacksons' "farewell tour" was great. Joseph was shook.

I loved the moments showing his relationship with kids. Signing autographs in the toy store after shooting Bill with...whatever that thing was, meeting up with folks in the burn ward after the accident, donating millions to that burn ward specifically for the kids, that one kid looking up at him performing just awestruck, that's the Michael that only fans know so I'm glad it got some screen time. Him calling that one kid "doodoo head"  they better have his cousins and the other kids call him "Applehead" in the sequel or I riot tbh.

And all the animals  Bubbles the chimp, Muscles the snake, the giraffe, the llama, I loved that they were able to use those both for comedic relief and to show a bit of MJ's lonely side. He didn't refer to them as "pets", they were "friends". Baby Mike reading a book to Ben the rat almost got me crying too. Poor guy.

I also loved that they showed a bit of his more serious side when dealing with executives. The man was ruthless when it came to business dealings and I wanted to cheer when they had this scrawny, softspoken little MJ walk into the room and all the execs go pale and clamber around desperate for his approval lmao.

A few critiques:

Spoiler

I think it's a shame they had to rush through so much. This is why I said from the start in order to tell his story in a satisfying way you'd need, like, a whole season of a Netflix series or something. Joseph's abuse was peppered in and the intimidation of adult Michael worked 'cause I have prior context about his life but someone who doesn't know much about him beyond the music will come away from this film thinking "So, his dad spanked him and called him 'big nose' so he's terrified of him at the old age of 24? What?". It just didn't delve deeply enough into his childhood trauma. It barely even scratched the surface of the kind of places Joseph would have them performing in. 

Speaking of, they had this scene where Michael comes home from the toy store with Twister and asks his brothers to play but they've all got plans and Marlon had a date. Michael asked when he'd be back, they could play then, and the brothers started laughing 'cause clearly Marlon was gonna score that night  they showed Michael being disturbed by that a bit (before playing Twister alone with Bubbles which was really sad and cute). Had they gone into more detail about the things Michael was exposed to, that would have looked less like Michael being shy or a prude and more like a man with arrested development who's been through some real sh*t. Sexualized for years as a minor, forced to perform in strip clubs and bars where he'd be directed to touch total strangers or peek up women's skirts as a joke, his brothers would have sex with groupies right beside him in the same bed and he'd have to pretend he was asleep, and Joseph would routinely pick up women on the side using Michael and his brothers to cheat on their mother. NONE of this was present and you lose SO MUCH of what made him a "forever child" because of it. A belt and mean words don't make someone as "weird" as he was.

I also didn't care for the fact that LaToya had to basically stand in for all of his sisters  that girl was playing LaJanBie and it felt so weird to always have her off on the sidelines glued to Katherine's butt but Janet and Rebbie are nowhere to be seen. There was also a notable lack of Diana Ross during the Motown years and the J5's rise to fame.

And it was so obvious that his family had so much to do with this film's production 'cause the brothers weren't portrayed as jealous or angry about Michael's solo success ONCE. Not one time. And that's just dishonest  there was even a scene were Joseph called a family meeting to talk about a tour (Triumph) and he was all "we're all proud of your success, right boys?" and the brothers (minus Jermaine) were just "uh huh, uh huh, of course, we're perfect loving siblings who never had any ill will towards Michael, we love that Off the Wall is so successful!". Get outta here 

There was also a serious lack of tabloid monkey business. Sure, the late 80s are where he really starts getting got by the media but before then there were allegations of him being gay, stories about his changing appearance, stories about him and Diana Ross or Brooke Shields, he didn't just suddenly "become weird" in the Bad era and if the second film starts with "Michael Jackson hates being black, bought the bones of the Elephant Man, and messes with little kids" it's gonna be a really f*cking jarring tone shift.

There are two things specifically that I feel were missed that really should have been included.

The first was his surrogate families. Around the Thriller era, he started hanging out with other families, notably the Cascio's but there were a few others. If they plan to follow this film up with him hanging out with a boy (and his mother and siblings) whose father will eventually accuse him of abusing his son there's a huge contextual hole there. 

The second was the lack of focus on Quincy Jones and his work on Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. If they wanna discuss his music career and the next film springboards into the 90s, Dangerous was his moment to prove himself where he had Quincy step back so he could make an album himself. Quincy even gave Dangerous the seal of approval afterwards. He was present in the film but just barely so I'm left anxious about how they'll cover my favorite album.

My hopes for/thoughts about a sequel:

Spoiler

I truly have no idea how they're going to approach this. The film ends in 1988 with him at Wembley Stadium on The Bad Tour...cool...the next movie will probably kick off just after that, no? Which, as an aside, it's a shame they're going to skip the entire Bad era 'cause the creation of that album and Michael penning his own autobiography (Moonwalk) during that time was truly fascinating. And again, that's when his relationship with the media turned sour.

Anyway...what happens in this time? The allegations...and since the estate is involved, legally they can't even directly discuss the allegations due to the NDA signed in the civil lawsuit settlement back in 1994. Not unless they somehow get Jordan Chandler himself to agree to release that NDA and there's NO WAY that man wants anything to do with the press and manhunt that'd come with being brought up by name in that film. They're gonna have to get creative and allude to what's happening and nobody is gonna be satisfied by that

The second film is gonna be notably darker, it has to be. The 90s were such an insane time for him. The allegations, his marriages, his own kids, addiction, the tabloid pariah he becomes, it all comes to a head HERE. The J5-Bad years were easy to write for but Dangerous to his death? That's tough. Dark, sad, and just tough.

I did take note of some seeds being planted that I'm expecting to pay off in the second film.

Obviously, the amount of times "Neverland" was seen shows a large part of the sequel will be about him building his refuge from his past and the world around him. I suspect the amount of times he had interactions with children will come into play here too but I'm wary of how they'll handle it.

It was a bit relieving to see them specifically call out Demerol, the painkiller. Even if you know nothing about his story, the few story beats where they stopped everything and just showed that IV dripping absolutely foreshadows his biggest struggle. They even mentioned the drugs making him sleepy and as us stans know, he ended up being so stressed that only surgical strength anesthetics could knock him out for a night's sleep and that's what eventually killed him.

My main concern is they absolutely glazed Michael in this film. He was a perfect angel. And if they portray him as such in the second film it'll be so narratively dishonest that I'll actually scream. It doesn't do him justice to portray him as the eternal victim. He was a good man but he had his struggles and he was self destructive. They have to be willing to show that. Otherwise, they might as well cap it here and call it a day.

....lastly, I NEEEEED them to do "Stranger in Moscow" justice. One of my favorite anecdotes about him is when he was on the European leg of the Dangerous Tour just looking out of his hotel room at the sea of fans, strangers, all of them supportive of him as the allegations had gone public just a month or so prior. Michael called his friend Brad to his room and asked him to play something for him on the piano. Brad was working on the Sonic soundtrack at the time so he played the credits theme and they wrote Stranger in Moscow right there. Mike was so heartbroken and lonely, that scene needs to be given space to breathe and the depth it deserves

Tl;dr - It was good! It felt good watching it and I successfully felt entranced in yet another retelling of Michael's story. I just wish they would have let certain things simmer more, provided more context for what's to come in a hypothetical sequel, and maybe crafted a more expansive score rather than cutting from scene to scene by using the Jackson 5 on shuffle

I'd recommend it

Xoxo, GGD's #1 Hee Hee

[Ziggy 13,222]

I appreciate your insight about part ii. I’m VERY curious how they’re going to pull that off especially given how involved his family has been. You can’t just glaze, like you said, but you also have to take a side essentially

[PartySick 169,870]

1 minute ago, Ziggy said:

I appreciate your insight about part ii. I’m VERY curious how they’re going to pull that off especially given how involved his family has been. You can’t just glaze, like you said, but you also have to take a side essentially

I don't think it's necessary to take a side tbh. To the contrary, I would rather them just be factual rather than lead the audience to one conclusion or the other.

Like I said in the other thread, maybe showing the civil suit settlement scene alone would be enough but Idk if that violates the NDA too. I lowkey wish the estate wasn't involved, then it wouldn't matter  

[gagzus 19,345]

I’ve been waiting for your take I’m ngl I don’t know much about Michael’s career beyond the media stuff in the 90s and 2000s because those were my childhood and teen years so reading this for a bit more insight gives me an idea of stuff to research before I go see it this weekend. 

[Ziggy 13,222]

21 minutes ago, PartySick said:

I don't think it's necessary to take a side tbh. To the contrary, I would rather them just be factual rather than lead the audience to one conclusion or the other.

Like I said in the other thread, maybe showing the civil suit settlement scene alone would be enough but Idk if that violates the NDA too. I lowkey wish the estate wasn't involved, then it wouldn't matter  

*I don’t think so but it’s Hollywood so I think they have to, ya know? Lack of nuance and such 

YES I wish the estate had zero part of this bc like a Madonna series or biopic it can’t be fully honest. 

[gagacabana 3,498]

I didn't know most of the things you just mentioned and heavily disliked the movie, how can you still get out of it thinking it was good and recommend it  

[PartySick 169,870]

19 minutes ago, gagacabana said:

I didn't know most of the things you just mentioned and heavily disliked the movie, how can you still get out of it thinking it was good and recommend it  

Well, there's plenty of criticism to be given but at the end of the day it's a, what? Two hour commitment?  

And "it's Michael Jackson" is enough to win me, I can't lie

[PartySick 169,870]

37 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

*I don’t think so but it’s Hollywood so I think they have to, ya know? Lack of nuance and such 

YES I wish the estate had zero part of this bc like a Madonna series or biopic it can’t be fully honest. 

Yeah...I guess that's the draw back of a narrative over a documentary styled thing. They have to tell a story not just recount events.

The involvement of both the estate and his family is felt so thoroughly it's actually a bit ridiculous

[PartySick 169,870]

47 minutes ago, gagzus said:

I’ve been waiting for your take I’m ngl I don’t know much about Michael’s career beyond the media stuff in the 90s and 2000s because those were my childhood and teen years so reading this for a bit more insight gives me an idea of stuff to research before I go see it this weekend. 

I'm always happy to have an MJ discussion any time  

[VTV 13,453]

Not to be n*gative but how would u feel if the sequel is canceled. 

[gagacabana 3,498]

2 minutes ago, VTV said:

Not to be n*gative but how would u feel if the sequel is canceled. 

Grateful 

[gagzus 19,345]

7 minutes ago, PartySick said:

I'm always happy to have an MJ discussion any time  

I’ve never really listened to his albums all the way through, I’ll probably have a marathon tomorrow any recommendations before I see the movie and any interviews/things to research before? 

[PartySick 169,870]

8 minutes ago, gagzus said:

I’ve never really listened to his albums all the way through, I’ll probably have a marathon tomorrow any recommendations before I see the movie and any interviews/things to research before? 

Well, the movie only really covers up to Thriller and it kinda sidesteps his solo stuff until Off the Wall (which is actually his fifth solo album). So maybe just the singles from Off the Wall and Thriller plus the bigger Jackson 5/Jacksons hits?

No point in learning the niche stuff, they barely touch it

[PartySick 169,870]

17 minutes ago, VTV said:

Not to be n*gative but how would u feel if the sequel is canceled. 

I wouldn't mind  

This film is already lacking and it hasn't even gotten to the controversial stuff.

[onionring 682]

Not surprised the brothers decided to pin it all on Joe (only after he passed) and not rake any accountability at all in Michael's trauma. Joe was the devil don't get me wrong but the way his own brothers treated him throughout his life is just vile, like he owes them his life and success and mfs still profiting off his name gtfoh.

Has Katherine Jackson said anything about this film yet?