Michael (2026)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
Jaafar Jackson becomes his uncle, Michael Jackson, in a fascinating portrayal of the music icon.
The strength of the film is how fantastic the musical performances are shot, recreating more than a handful of legendary moments for viewers to experience once again.
Colman Domingo deserves better, but gives a menacing performance as patriarch Joe Jackson.
NO
Hollow, shallow, and sanitized - this is a movie with such little depth or vulnerability, you almost can see it afraid of its own existence.
A movie which feels like it only exists to protect the brand and cash flow, at the risk of telling an actual biographical depiction of its subject.
Michael proves that spectacle always sells better than honesty.
OUR REVIEW
With the galvanizing chorus of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” still booming through the speakers, a local cinema studies professor, Warren Etheredge, led the preview audience through a post-screening discussion of Michael, the long-awaited look at the singer’s formative years. Antoine Fuqua’s biopic had just ended and Etheredge wanted to hear some immediate takeaways.
“The remixed recordings do a disservice to Jackson’s music,” was one response.
“I appreciate this attempt, but the timeline in how the songs are presented is wrong and it doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know. The performances look great,” offered another attendee.
Then there was this: “All that other stuff is for a different movie. This honors the God-given talent and ability that no one else but Michael had and we should celebrate his music and the legacy he left behind.” This generated a decent amount of applause.
And that’s the complication around Michael. What is Michael Jackson’s story? Is it about a boy overcoming the verbal and physical abuse he suffered from his father Joe, played here with menacing desperation by Colman Domingo? Is it how a close bond and connection to his mother Katherine (Nia Long) gave him the confidence and belief in himself that he can overcome anything put before him?
Perhaps his story is recognizing his immense talents as a singer, composer, producer, and performer, as well as how he was a visionary in fashion, design, choreography, and commitment to the brand. Then again, maybe Jackson’s story is told by showing us his unwavering belief that he was the best, the greatest to ever do it, and he steadfastly refused to believe otherwise.
Jaafar Jackson, son of Michael’s brother Jermaine, captures the look, the mannerisms, the voice, and the singular presence of Michael Jackson in every scene of Michael. His screen presence is electric and he disappears into the role. Stealing the movie’s opening scenes is newcomer Juliano Valdi, who portrays “Young Michael,” during the formation and meteoric rise of The Jackson Five.
The music sounds incredible, with Fuqua’s cinematic recreation of performances from the Jacksons’ Victory Tour and Michael’s legendary Motown 25 performance of “Billie Jean,” where he unveiled his version of the moonwalk for the very first time, examples of how the movie leaps off the screen.
However …
This is also a movie that ignores the very existence of Janet Jackson. And yes, I understand she declined to be a part of the film and endorses Jaafar Jackson’s performance. But, there’s not a blurry background of a young child, or a nameless little girl to stand in for her - she’s nowhere in any family photos. In this universe, she was never born.
This is also a movie that gathers all of Jackson’s unique idiosyncrasies (his obsession with toys, games, llamas, snakes, keeping a chimpanzee named ‘Bubbles’ as a pet) as a deeply-felt identification with Peter Pan and the possibilities of Neverland as a destination to escape from all the difficulties in life. He simply loved Peter Pan. Nothing more to see here.
This is also a movie that uses throwaway movie lines as foundational plot points, while also ignoring some very basic questions we have as viewers.
One comment by Joe leads to numerous nasal reconstruction surgeries. He never seems to be romantically interested in anyone whatsoever. And as Thriller cements his status as the biggest entertainer on the planet, we are led to believe that most nights, he simply sat on the couch with his mom, watched classic movies like Night of the Living Dead and Singin’ In the Rain late into the night, and loved himself a bowl of strawberry ice cream.
And maybe that’s all true.
But there are other things missing - things important to the Michael Jackson story.
Like the fact that the Jackson Estate had to remove an entire storyline from the film because, as it turns out, acknowledging the alleged sexual abuse of a minor (which, to be fair, Jackson vehemently denied until the day he died), violated a legal settlement Jackson entered into with the boy’s family in 1993. There’s also the fact that one version of this film attempted to frame Jackson as a victim of several extortion attempts tied to alleged sexual abuse. That all got scrapped.
There’s no Janet, or older sister Rebbie. Young brother Randy is absent too. Those who are here are all given executive producer credits on the film, which also includes Michael’s son Prince, but not his younger children Paris (who has spoken out against the film) or Bigi, who made a rare public appearance at the film’s Berlin premiere.
So what is Michael exactly?
A surface-level, paint-by-numbers story that is as safe and calculated as one can imagine. No meaningful line of dialogue seems allowed to last for more than a sentence. The “dialogue” written by John Logan (Hugo, Spectre) is benign and obvious and the film teaches us about as much as a carefully edited Wikipedia page would do. We learn little. We see even less. But the manipulation is effective: we are dazzled by how completely Jaafar Jackson embodies his uncle.
As good as he is, I cannot tell if Jaafar is a good actor, or just very good at playing Michael Jackson. Unlike Jamie Foxx, whose Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles confirmed his ability to portray a famous celebrity with agency and depth, beyond a basic use of mimicry, I simply do not know what we have here with Michael’s nephew.
For some, like the gentleman referenced above, the music and the performance scenes will be enough. He was clear - the rest of the stuff belongs in a different movie. Well, “the rest of the stuff” has appeared in numerous television specials and documentaries. One such documentary, Leaving Neverland, found Jackson’s most devout fans and some who are referenced in the film condemning it as false and untrue. Others, however, say the disclosures made in the film are indeed legitimate and true.
The reality is that you simply cannot tell the Michael Jackson story in full without telling the Michael Jackson story in full. Anything else is a sanitized, Clorox-wipedown of an experience that doesn’t paint the whole picture, and turns a blind eye to the complexities that exist when discussing him.
And look … I know Jackson was never found guilty of any crimes. I know his music lives on. I know listening to him is complicated for some and of no concern at all for others. He created some of the greatest music of all time.
Michael is a manipulative piece of filmmaking, a restoration project that mistakes nostalgia for truth. The film’s anticipated success only underscores one fundamental truth that studios exploit again and again:
Spectacle sells better than honesty.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Juliano Valdi, Laura Harrier, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jamal R. Henderson, Tre Horton, Rhyan Hill, Joseph David-Jones, Jessica Sula, Larenz Tate, Kendrick Sampson, Deon Cole, Mike Myers
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: John Logan
Release Date: April 24, 2026
Lionsgate