Part documentary and part concert film, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” opened simultaneously in 3,400 United States theaters at midnight Tuesday, with openings in the middle of the night in 90 countries around the world.
Not even counting the coverage of Jackson’s death since June 25, this is one of the most publicized movies in history. Some callers have threatened to cancel their subscriptions if they see another word. (Well, I haven’t written about it until now.)
As with every turn in his troubled, bizarre life, there is controversy. The film has been called a scam, with a Web site called This-is-not-it.com claiming the use of body doubles and manipulation of the soundtrack. Questions surround the financial motivation of all involved.
All that aside, the film offers a kind of joy we weren’t prepared to see. There is no question that this is the 50-year-old Jackson, every moment, and he appears to have been quite capable of handling the 50-concert schedule that was to have begun a few weeks after some of this footage was taken. There are few close-ups, yet the ravages of plastic surgery are evident from even a medium distance.
“This Is It” delivers a vibrant, energetic and, most shocking of all, decisive performer. Decisive is not a word usually identified with the soft-spoken, seemingly flaky Jackson.
“There. Bring that piano in there,” he orders during a rehearsal, always adding “with love.” The film’s primary moments of revelation come in the chatter between Jackson and his dancers, singers, technicians and, most of all, director Kenny Ortega . (Ortega directed the aborted stage show as well as the movie.) Almost apologetic in his suggestions, Jackson is nonetheless definitive and engaged, cheering on his cohorts with the line: “That’s why we rehearse.” He is coy but controlling. He regrets a missed beat but adds, “We’re getting there.” This is a portrait of an artist striving.
“This Is It” comes with a built-in drama, of course. It includes footage from the last night of Jackson’s life – the final rehearsal in the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Not since the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” has a music documentary come infused with such real drama on the sideline. (The Stones doc involved a real-life homicide during the concert.)
More impressive for its dance than for its singing, the film shows a Jackson who goes from moonwalk to penguin flippers and rotating pinwheels with hands that never stay still. His moves are stylized and instantaneous at the same time. It looks rehearsed, yet we see him invent new steps even when the music stops.
If there is doctoring, it is in the soundtrack rather than in the visuals. An Imax theater’s digital audio system is a tool any singer could use. “I have to save my voice,” Jackson says, seemingly talking to himself and trying to prevent himself from singing full out. Perhaps the most personal vocal moments are with the duet “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” with Judith Hill.
As much as anything else, “This Is It” is a tribute to a huge kind of show business spectacle that is seldom found anymore – except, occasionally, in Las Vegas. “Thriller” is augmented by new film footage of ghouls and gravediggers storming the camera, in what would have been 3-D. Computers are used to magnify the dancers into a thousand-fold dancing army for a militaristic version of “They Don’t Care About Us.”
There is no question that “This Is It” onstage would have been an amazing show.
Only occasionally is there embarrassing pandering from the dancers and co-workers who gush about the “King of Pop.” The mush was not needed because the film shows us a king. Most succinct is the guitarist who states flatly: “Michael knows his music.”
Some are predicting a $100 million box office take for the long opening, though the sparse crowds at AMC Lynnhaven 18 in Virginia Beach at midnight Tuesday will not add much to that total. T-shirts and other memorabilia, originally to be sold at the concerts, are on sale in movie lobbies. The film is dedicated to “the fans,” but it’s for anyone who loves movie musicals, old or new. It has a fascination beyond its star.
No sadness is necessary. There is a joy here that the tabloid-possessed life of Michael Jackson seldom reflected.
Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347,
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
