Michael (2026) Review

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, finally gets his theatrical biopic with his nephew, Jaafar Jackson, playing the iconic star.

Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo) is a steel mill worker who’s determined to get his family out of Gary, Indiana. He makes his sons perform as The Jackson 5, including 10-year-old Michael (Juliano True Valid). When Michael grows up, he breaks away from The Jackson 5 and becomes a successful solo artist, but his father’s shadow lingers over the young man.

The promotional material for Michael highlighted that it was produced by Graham King, the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody. The Freddie Mercury biopic had a big impact, earning $910 million at the box office and winning four Academy Awards, but the critical reaction was mixed. It was an impactful film, leading to more biopics being made, from Respect, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and Back to Black, although they did not match the 2018’s success.

Michael did follow Bohemian Rhapsody’s production template. It hired a director with a decent filmography (Antoine Fuqua, Training Day and The Equalizer movies), and an acclaimed writer, John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall), got the writing credit. Michael even had production trouble, like Bohemian Rhapsody. In Michael’s case, it had extensive reshoots because the original ending would have broken a legal settlement. Also, like Bohemian Rhapsody, Michael aimed for a PG-13/12A rating to make it as marketable as possible.

Michael had been met with a mixed critical reception. Critics like Kevin Maher of The Times and the BBC’s Nicholas Barber gave the film 1-star reviews. The audience reaction has been more positive: at the time of writing, it has a 7.7 rating on IMDb, and it is set to be a box office hit. A casual audience wants to be entertained, and they should get that from the recreations of some of Michael’s big moments and a soundtrack they recognise.

Jaafar Jackson was the highlight of the film. He did give a terrific performance: he was able to replicate his uncle’s mannerisms, dance moves, and soft voice. Nepotism probably helped Jaafar get the role, yet he proved he deserved it. It was even more impressive considering that playing Michael Jackson was Jaafar’s debut acting role. Colman Domingo was also notable as Joseph Jackson since he was vile as an abusive man who used his family to enrich himself, and any attempt to stand up to him was considered a betrayal against the family. He acted like a cross between Richard Williams in King Richard and Phil Mitchell.

Michael’s relationship with his father was the filmmakers’ attempt to give the film some narrative glue. Joseph was a constant presence throughout the film as he looked for ways to exploit his family. Even when Michael was a megastar, he was too scared to confront his dad. Michael had to go to other men to get fatherly advice. Berry Gordy (Larenz Tate), the President of Motown, was a gentler figure who fostered Michael’s interest in music production, whilst Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones), Michael’s bodyguard, was emotionally and physically protective.

Michael Jackson has been someone people have analysed from afar. The film does that. Michael was in the public eye from a young age and was made to perform, so he never had a real childhood. Because of this, Michael didn’t have many friends, which led him to have a menagerie of animal buddies. He was shown to be a massive Disney fan, even as an adult, and saw himself as Peter Pan.

Michael was shown to be caring towards children. He brought gifts, signed autographs, and visited hospitals because he was a benevolent person. However, due to the allegations against Michael, I kept thinking inappropriate thoughts about Michael wanting to touch all the children in the world.

Michael does suffer from the same issues that many other musical biopics have had. The Jackson estate was highly involved in the film’s production, which resulted in a sanitised portrayal of Michael. It wasn’t a warts-and-all portrayal of the likes of Elton John and Robbie Williams in their biopics. Bad acts with kids are hard to sugarcoat. Michael was a biopic that was made of snippets, showing some important milestones from Michael’s career. There was a checklist, showing the Jackson 5’s success, Michael making Off the Wall, getting the Bloods and Crips together so they can make a music video, the creation of the music video for “Thriller”, and his impact on MTV. There was no depth to these events as the film tries to cover 20 years of history. Michael ends with a concert to give the audience a crowd-pleasing moment. Bohemian Rhapsody built up to Queen’s performance at Live Aid. Michael even ends with a ‘To Be Continued’ title card, so we didn’t even get a complete film.

Michael was not a trainwreck like some critics have made it out to be, but it was just a compilation album for fans of the musician.