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The idea of a Michael Jackson biopic where he\u2019s played by his own, similar-looking nephew seemed like an interesting experiment. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a failed one.<\/p>\n
Critic reviews have come in for Michael, the film in question, and it is being panned almost universally, with a disastrous 26% Rotten Tomatoes score<\/a>. That\u2019s with dozens of critics chiming in, not just a handful, and that makes it one of the worst-rated biopics in recent memory. Among other recent ones:<\/p>\n A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan, played by Timothy Chalamet) \u2013 79%Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) \u2013 97%Priscilla (played by Cailee Spaeny) \u2013 84%The Smashing Machine (Mark Kerr, played by Dwayne Johnson) \u2013 71%Christy (Christy Martin, played by Sydney Sweeney) \u2013 67%Deliver Me From Nowhere (Bruce Springsteen, played by Jeremy Allen White) \u2013 61%The Apprentice (Donald Trump, played by Sebastian Stan) \u2013 72%The Iron Claw (The Von Erich Family) \u2013 89%Ferrari (Enzo Ferrari, played by Adam Driver) \u2013 73%<\/p>\n As you can see, Michael is below all of them, and is the company of:<\/p>\n Back to Black (Amy Winehouse, played by Marisa Abela) \u2013 35%Reagan (Ronald Regan, played by Dennis Quaid) \u2013 18%<\/p>\n Jafaar Jackson is likely the least-known name on this entire list, despite his famous last name, though he\u2019s supported by the likes of Miles Teller, Nia Long and back-to-back Best Actor Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. And it\u2019s directed by Training Day\u2019s Antoine Fuqua.<\/p>\n But it just did not pan out. The musical and dance numbers are being praised, but at the expense of many critics saying that\u2019s all the movie offers. Jackson\u2019s performance, as well, does not seem to be at fault, but the entire thing just does not work as a feature film. Some excerpts:<\/p>\n Globe and Mail<\/a>: \u201cThere is just not enough of a movie to hang those showstopping numbers on. Just as all the note-perfect moves and movie-star magic of a sensational Jaafar Jackson are not enough to ensure his uncle\u2019s story is given the cinematic life that it deserves.\u201dThe Times UK<\/a>: \u201cThe narrative is an aimless Wiki-plod through Jackson\u2019s back catalogue, first with the Jackson 5 and then his early solo career. His siblings are negligible as characters and there\u2019s a conspicuous vacuum where Janet Jackson should have been.\u201dThe Nightly<\/a>: \u201cMichael is so awful at times, you risk physically collapsing into yourself from all the cringing.\u201d<\/p>\n Yeesh. And many of these don\u2019t just skew negative, they are flat-out D-grades or 1\/5 star scores. If critics didn\u2019t like it, they really didn\u2019t like it. This is after I saw social media early takes<\/a> that Michael is \u201cthe best musical biopic of all time.\u201d No accounting for taste, I suppose.<\/p>\n Whether Michael is good or not will not necessarily correlate with poor performance at the box office. Michael is out in three days on April 24, and is a large-scale global release for one of the most famous artists in history, if not the most famous. Don\u2019t count it out.<\/p>\n Follow me on Twitter<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>,<\/a> Bluesky <\/a>and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series<\/a> and The Earthborn Trilogy<\/a>.<\/p>\n