The first reviews for Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic starring the pop star’s nephew Jaafar Jackson are here. If the low debut rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the reviews from critics are any indication, this King of Pop biopic does not impress. In fact, some reviews even called it ‘frustrating’ and ‘disappointing’.
Michael debuts with 27% Rotten Tomatoes rating
Michael debuted on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes with a 27% rating, which has gone up to only 31% at the time of writing. Based on 61 reviews, most have given low ratings to the film, even as they praised Jaafar’s performance as his uncle. Criticism ranged from how the film was handled to its ending, hinting at a sequel, even though it doesn’t fully explore Michael’s story.
Critics call Michael ‘frustrating’
The Wrap wrote that Michael is a ‘frustrating biopic that makes you want to scream’. A portion of their review reads: “Whether it’s by design or legal necessity, “Michael” picks as few battles as possible and backs off almost every time. It’s a film about how great Michael Jackson was and how great you are if you’re still a fan. It can’t be taken seriously, no matter how earnest it looks and sounds. because it’s not really a story.”
IGN wrote that Michael is ‘really, really bad’. The review reads: “Michael, as it exists in its current, largely incomplete form, is a frictionless, flat, paper-thin story that’s so concerned with fidelity to bullet points and recognizable highlights that it robs its characters of soul — not to mention the actors playing them.”
BBC rated it 1 stars out of 5, writing, “A chronological plod through Jackson’s time in the Jackson 5, and his subsequent solo success, the film’s narrative stops in the mid-1980s, before he was accused of child abuse, and it removes everything from the story that might be deemed contentious. It removes everything that might be deemed dramatic, too.”
Jaafar Jackson’s performance praised
Not everybody seemed to think Michael was as bad. Praising the film and Jaafar’s performance, Variety wrote: “Jaafar, the 29-year-old son of Jermaine Jackson, is Michael Jackson’s nephew, and he has never acted in a movie before. But does he ever nail the look, the voice, the electrostatic moves — and, more than that, the mixture of delicacy and steel that made Michael who he was.”
ScreenRant also called the biopic ‘masterful’, writing, “The finished product has more than justified the cost. From the casting to the costumes to the full-fledged concert performances, Michael lives up to the legendary status of its namesake.”
Michael is releasing in theatres on April 24.