Movie Review - 'This Is It'

This Is It Starring Michael Jackson Directed by Kenny Ortega Rated PG

You don't often get a chance to see something like This is It. A document of a great performer's last days is incredibly rare, surprising if you consider how often these people are photographed. In the case of Michael Jackson, we're fortunate that a movie like this even exists, based on his unexpected death this summer. But Jackson was preparing for both a comeback and a curtain call, a series of concerts in London, and almost all of this period was captured by director Kenny Ortega (High School Musical 3), but according to this film, the original design was not as a documentary. While This is It sure could be more insightful, as a performance piece, it's kind of mesmerizing. We don't get a good look behind the curtain, but there are brief glimpses: Jackson instructing his musicians and dancers, The King of Pop getting accustomed to earbud monitors, Michael praising everyone's work, concluding nearly every interaction with either "I love you" or "God bless you." Those things go pretty far in establishing who Jackson is on stage, and I'll argue that based on this evidence, the stage is where he would prefer to be all the time. For whatever his predilictions away from the spotlight, the man was electric within its glow. At the age of 50, he has better moves than any of his dancers and shows no sign of having doubled in years since he changed everything with the Moonwalk on the Motown 25th anniversary concert telecast. The King of Pop title might have had more to do with album sales, but when you see him perform, you're seeing someone without an equal. Genius? I don't know. That word gets thrown around a lot. But he was as talented a triple threat as we'll probably ever see. And it's all on display here, in between apologies to his crew that he has to be careful with his voice. He does not seem at all tyrannical or aloof, descriptions that have fit a vast number of singers over the years, and though we have all seen his discomfort in public appearances - even with his family - you never get any sense of that while he's performing. It's easy to wish he had lived a different childhood or at the very least had a different father, but the man in this movie couldn't have wound up anywhere else no matter what. As for the filmmaking, Ortega and his editors rushed to condense what must have been hundreds upon hundreds of hours of footage into a brisk two hours. The work is more than admirable, and since we're introduced to this film with the message that it's for the fans, it's tough to say that Ortega doesn't provide them what they want the most. It's fairly repetitive, and the interviews with the crew, musicians, singers, and dancers are not at all a big enough part of painting a picture about Michael Jackson, that's probably the only major complaint you could begin to level at This is It. As entertaining as it is in spots, This is It still falls flat more than you'd expect. I blame that on the hurried schedule for post-production, and it probably could not have been completely avoided. It's just a shame we don't have more of the concert footage from earlier in his career built in as a counterpoint, so we could compare the artist as a young man with the performer dying to get out from behind the veil of a career recluse.

Comments

[Linda Morris]

He was a National Treasure.
This intimate look into the atelier of artist MJ gives a rare glimpse of the genius he embodied. Not a mournful note throughout, but instead, I'm left with a yearning to see that fabulous tour in person... to hear the words I know so well projected anew from the razor edge of brilliance. Please, stay to the very end. There's more beyond the names.

[tae]

i cant wait to c this movie. its gonna b one of the greatest movies all year. :)
i am really glad that he is going to get h is concert. his final curtain call. he deserves to be respected.

[MoneyPenny]

I have been looking forward to this movie since the minute it was announced...i purchased my tickets on fandango as soon as they were available and i'm anxiously awaiting tomorrow night (going to this for my halloween night event)

[zein]

I went to the movie after a very trying week & I thought I would sleep through it. I only went to bring my 3 kids & maid who are fans of MJ.
Howver, I came out with a lot of respect for MJ -- his personality, his self-discipline & his talent.
Yes, I think he is 'a genius' in the music world, just as Einstein is a genius in his own field.
If MJ has been alive, the show would have been one of the greatest concert that the world get to see.
It is wonderful to see him in a commanding persona, respected & very much loved by his group.
Certainly not what I've thought him to be based on those news that media had splashed about him all over the world.
Rest in peace, Mikhail.
God bless you.