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Reviews for Michael, the new Michael Jackson biopic, have been mixed, with early reactions split between praise for its performances and criticism that it plays things far too safe, and avoids the more unsavoury aspects of Jackson’s legacy. But the most revealing choice may not be the script, casting, or soundtrack. It’s where the film decides to stop.
Rather than chart Jackson’s life through every major controversy, Michael closes around the Bad era, ending in the late 1980s as the singer reached one of the last truly untouchable chapters of his career.
While Thriller remains the commercial high-water mark, Bad has a strong claim as peak Michael Jackson in a different sense. This was the fully formed global superstar era: stadium tours, military tailoring, razor-sharp choreography, five No.1 singles – Bad, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man in the Mirror, and Dirty Diana – and the kind of celebrity scale that barely exists anymore. For many fans, myself included, this was Jackson at full command of his image and powers.
Review: ‘Michael’ Offers A Highly Sanitised, Incredibly Entertaining Look at the King of Pop
It was also the last stretch of the story that still behaves like a classic music biopic.
Everything after Bad becomes harder to package into a crowd-pleasing cinema experience. The 1990s brought allegations, legal scrutiny, relentless tabloid coverage, changing public sentiment, and a version of fame that looked less glamorous and more isolating. Whatever viewers believe, whether he’s the King of Pop or Wacko Jacko, the story stops being universally celebrated and starts becoming contested.
Most music biopics rely on uplift. Even when they include hardship, they usually build toward redemption, reinvention, or one final triumphant performance. It’s a familiar formula because audiences generally prefer leaving the cinema energised rather than conflicted.
Whether you like it or not, Michael Jackson’s life isn’t without controversy (to say the least). The controversy that was actually included in the original version of the film, before legal complications with the Jackson estate over certain allegations, forced a rethink and partial restructuring.
That doesn’t automatically make it a bad film. Plenty of people will happily turn up to watch two hours of iconic songs, famous dance routines, and a reminder of what Jackson meant at his peak. And judging by audience reactions overseas, many already have.
But in a movie criticised for being cautious, the ending may be the clearest sign of all.
Michael doesn’t just stop at Bad. It stops at the last version of Michael Jackson the world could broadly agree on.
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