The first thing you need to know is that the project is the brainchild of film producer Graham King, best known for producing the hit 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which made $910 million and won four Academy Awards. Michael was made with the full cooperation of the Michael Jackson estate and most of the Jackson family members (more on that later). Production kicked off in 2019 but hit major snags along the way, including the 2023 Sag-Aftra strike.

But the biggest snag came about because the film was originally intended to include some of the child abuse allegations against Michael. But a legal agreement tied to the 1993 Jordan Chandler case meant that they had to remove this part of the story. Chandler was an alleged abuse victim of Michael’s.

He was 13 years old when the abuse is said to have occurred. The lawsuit his family brought against Michael was settled out of court in 1994. The result was costly script rewrites and reshoots and a decision to end the story in the late ’80s, before the allegations surfaced.

Ultimately, Michael cost somewhere between $155m and $200m to make. There’s some speculation that not all the extra footage will go to waste and that the producers intend to start production on a sequel. The fact that Michael ends with the words “His story continues” lends some credence to this theory.

As for the film itself, is it any good? Well, that depends on what you want out of a music biopic. The film covers Michael’s life for roughly 22 years, from 1966 when he was eight years old and performing with his elder brothers as part of the Jackson 5 to 1988 when he was deep into his solo career and on tour promoting his Bad album.

For me, that’s the main problem. I’ve always preferred a biopic that focuses on one period of anywhere from a few weeks to a year of the person’s life rather than a cradle-to-the-grave approach to storytelling. More than two decades of life is a lot to cover in a two-hour film and as a result, Michael ends up feeling more like a highlight reel than an exploration of the man behind the myth.

Watching it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they wrote the script by compiling several iconic moments of Michael either recording in studio, shooting music videos or performing his most recognisable songs from this period. The narrative of Michael interacting with the people in his orbit seems to have been written to bridge us from one iconic moment to the next. Michael recorded Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough with Quincy Jones producing.

Tick. Michael shot the music video for Thriller with John Landis directing. Tick. Michael performed Billie Jean at the Motown 25 special and moonwalked on stage for the first time.

Tick. All the moments we know and love are there as if cycling through a checklist of events. Don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing all these moments in the theatre.

For multiple generations of people, including my own, the moments are etched into our hearts and minds, so there was definitely a feeling of joy that came from seeing them recreated for the IMAX screen. But, at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, after a while it all started to feel repetitive and I wondered if what the film was doing would be better achieved with a solid documentary containing real footage. That’s no disrespect to what director Antoine Fuqua and his team managed to achieve with this film, though.

I have to acknowledge that the casting choice of Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s nephew, was inspired. The son of Jermaine Jackson captures his uncle’s speech patterns, mannerisms, singing and dancing with remarkable accuracy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the young man earns a Best Leading Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, which is his first in any film by the way.

Colman Domingo also does solid work as Joe Jackson, Michael’s ambitious yet tyrannical father and manager. Nia Long is criminally underused as Katherine Jackson. As are Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones and Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy.

Interestingly, every member of the Jackson family is portrayed in the film except for Janet. As the second most popular breakout star of the clan and the sibling closest to Michael, both in terms of age and connection, her absence is felt. There’s no official word on why she isn’t in the film but it is interesting to note that she’s close to Michael’s daughter Paris who is pursuing legal action against the co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate who also happen to be two of the producers of the Michael film (more on that soon).

Also absent is Diana Ross who was a critical mentor and mother figure for young Michael as he navigated the music industry. In a rather self-serving move, the role of