{"id":908972,"date":"2026-05-28T15:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/michael-jackson-biopic-turns-up-the-music-and-mutes-the-controversy-whats-wrong-with-that\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:17:17","slug":"michael-jackson-biopic-turns-up-the-music-and-mutes-the-controversy-whats-wrong-with-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/michael-jackson-biopic-turns-up-the-music-and-mutes-the-controversy-whats-wrong-with-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson biopic turns up the music and mutes the controversy. What’s wrong with that?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Entertainment<\/span><\/a>\u00b7<\/span>REVIEW<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Antoine Fuqua’s Michael is a surface-level replay of the iconic King of Pop’s life. Audiences get toe-tapping entertainment value and an impressive impersonation by nephew Jaafar Jackson at the expense of virtually any investigation into the mind and motivations of the eponymous star.<\/p>\n

Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic puts theatrics above investigation in replay of King of Pop’s life<\/h2>\n
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Jackson Weaver<\/a><\/span> \u00b7 <\/span>CBC News<\/p>\n

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Estimated 7 minutes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jaafar Jackson, centre, appears as Michael Jackson in Michael. As with many authorized biopics, you’re more likely to encounter brand management than incisive and honest character examinations in Antoine Fuqua’s take on the King of Pop. (Glen Wilson\/Lionsgate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Where did Michael Jackson\u2019s high-pitched, whispery speaking voice come from? Did he ever struggle with the massive weight of near-universal fame? How significantly, or even consciously, did he mourn a childhood stolen from him?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also: did Janet Jackson actually exist?\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you’d like to learn all this and more \u2026 well, don’t bother watching Antoine Fuqua’s new biopic\/hagiography, Michael<\/em>.\u00a0Because, instead of engaging with the fraught backstory of one of the most famous men to ever live, audiences get toe-tapping entertainment value and an impressive impersonation by nephew Jaafar Jackson at the expense of virtually any investigation into the mind and motivations of its eponymous star. <\/p>\n

You could blame legal issues for the surface-level replay of the iconic King of Pop’s life: While an initial, longer cut of the film both started and ended with allegations of sexual abuse<\/u><\/a> from a 13-year-old boy, the fine print of a settlement between the Jackson family and the young accuser barred his depiction in film. <\/p>\n

Late-stage reshoots focused solely on MJ’s rise as an eight-year-old wunderkind to the heights of his fame decades later, with an ending situated years before any serious allegations surfaced. <\/p>\n

WATCH | Michael biopic trailer:<\/strong><\/em>