Michael

I genuinely enjoyed it a lot more upon rewatch and in IMAX more than I did Dolby. Although better theater crowd experience goes to Dolby because of a certain child like 2-3 rows behind me who wouldn’t stop making noise and loudly crying. Not at the movie itself (I’d semi understand that), but just in general. If you’re gonna take your infant or child to a movie, please make sure they’re well behaved. I understand not being able to get a babysitter, but it’s just proper theater etiquette. Anyway, here’s my proper review. I really love this movie a lot. Despite all the drama surrounding it (7 years of development, being forced to rewrite it and reshoot it, etc.). I thought everything really good despite the runtime that was given. My only gripes are that I wish it was longer and that the editing was not that great (albeit, I don’t think it was terrible, I just thought at times, it was just okay). The editing choices at times just felt really… bizarre? Idk how to describe it exactly. The editor of Bohemian Rhapsody, John Ottman was involved in this and despite loving that, I also thought the editing was bizarre in that too. I feel like it might have been just his edited scenes that were the bizarre ones to me. It’s weird because the other 3 editors have really great editing credits. I’d have to rewatch Bohemian Rhapsody to properly form my thoughts on it. It’s been a while. And as for the runtime, it originally was gonna be longer, but a lot of it was cut because of an overlooked contract with the allegations against Michael & because Diana Ross pulled herself out of the film got her scenes where she was portrayed cut from the movie. It sucks so much. I can give it somewhat of a pass for that due to everything this movie went through, but man, I wish it was longer. As for the IMAX experience. Both formats I saw it in (Dolby and IMAX) were insanely good, but IMAX slightly clears it for me. Dolby felt great with that amazing, crisp, audio with 4K visuals, but watching this in IMAX felt like I was actually there at a Michael Jackson concert experiencing his presence in front of me. They did a really great job with the IMAX experience despite it not being filmed for IMAX. Seeing and hearing his music boom throughout the speakers, just seeing everyone vibing and having a great time was amazing to me. God, those concert & recreated scenes (Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough MV, Thriller short film, Motown 25, the Victory Tour and the Bad tour) were fantastic. Seeing them in IMAX healed me. Genuinely my favorite experiences of the whole movie. Now for the acting. Jaafar was fucking spectacular as Michael. At times I didn’t even register that it wasn’t actually Michael himself. It genuinely felt like the spirit of Michael possessed him multiple times throughout the film. His performance was that good to me. Before his performance of Bad at Wembley, when he turned to the camera, I was almost convinced that was actually Michael both times I saw it in theaters. He captured his whimsical nature and wonder extremely well. If Jaafar continues to do more acting, I’m excited to see how he develops. Also I’ve been seeing many people talk about Colman Domingo’s performance as Joe Jackson and saying it was terrible, but I thought it was really good. He portrayed the evilness and conniving nature of Joe really well. Did a fantastic job of making me despise him, as I should. Nia Long also was fantastic as Katherine Jackson. She portrayed the caring nature of Katherine extremely well. The cast in general was great. I especially need to talk about Juliano Krue Valdi. In the short time that we saw him, he did a fantastic job as a young Michael. I loved the way he portrayed him. The cinematography was really great to me too. I adore some of Dion Beebe’s work like Chicago, Collateral (co-cinematographer with Paul Cameron) and The Little Mermaid live action remake, so I’m not shocked I loved his work here too. I adored the way the film was shot, framed and composed. It just felt right to me, idk. Of course, last but not least the music. God, it was perfect. I loved the way they vocally blended Jaafar (& Juliano’s) vocals with Michael’s during the music scenes. They really did Michael’s music justice in this film. I really adored it. All in all, I really loved this movie. If you’re a diehard Michael fan like I am, I highly recommend seeing it on the biggest screen that you can.