Ryan McNeil
Once in a while, a movie comes along that defies convention. The world outside the cinema doors has aligned itself, and turned what unspools on the silver screen into something far bigger than just two hours traffic.
Make no mistake, these occasions are precious few, and truly far between. But the moment has arrived again for Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT.
In case you weren’t paying attention, in the spring of this year, Michael Jackson announced a run of ten concerts to be performed at London’s O2 Arena. All in one go, they were to be a return and a swan song. Demand for the show, titled “This Is It”, swelled beyond anyone’s expectations. The run was increased from 10 shows to 50. The design of the shows included everything from pyrotechnics to 3-D film clips. But of course, as we all well know by now, not a single show was ever performed.
THIS IS IT has been constructed from rehearsal footage. It documents the entire show number by number, and includes a peek into the way such a spectacle was assembled, and the people that assembled it.
The movie was an afterthought, with footage captured without any intent to be seen by the public at large. Making production matters more interesting, is the fact that the appetite for all things MJ in wake of his passing, meant that the timeline to get this film into theatres was a short one. Actually, “short” would be putting it kindly. One report had Sony wanting the film to be ready for an August 29th release date. Filmmakers understandably told Sony where to go.
What THIS IS IT does best, is capture a musical legend close to the top of his game. I’ve always considered Jackson to be a monstrous musical talent. He has given us nothing this decade to get excited about, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have it in him. During THIS IS IT, we see just how gifted he is when he is focused. He blocks his way through moves other dancers have to give their all to keep up with. He feigns his way through vocals, and still fills every note with nothing but soul. And he breaks down a music director on tempo and chord progression that borders on fretting minutiae – except that when the minutiae is corrected, you can hear how right Michael is in wanting the change.
What holds THIS IS IT back, is that there are moments where you can tell that it was unintentional. This doc is not required viewing. The video quality is rough, and a few songs feel much more like rehearsal pieces than others. Becuase all of this footage comes from early rehearsals, there are many moments where Michael merely blocks his way through the dance moves. He gets his point across, even when he skips lyrics and feints a dance step…but had this film been able to document the show full-out, it would have made the difference between getting the point across and showing us something truly special.
THIS IS IT will never be mentioned with the all time best, nor will it even make many of this year’s top ten’s. Quite simply though, if you have any interest in Michael Jackson’s music, this film is for you.
I haven’t written about Michael Jackson’s death on this blog, and I’m not about to start now. When his concert was announced, I had serious doubts as to whether or not he could complete a fifty show run. Now, having watched the footage of what the show would have been, my guess as to whether he could have performed fifty doesn’t matter. All I am left with now, is a sadness that with a magnificent show such as this, he never even got to perform one.
I know I will eventually be convinced to watch this on DVD, but I will go down protesting and grumpy. Much like Elvis I get people are teary eyed screamingly in love with Michael but at the same time I only really care for about 3-4 of his songs, the rest are nice but I could never have heard and wouldn't feel as if I missed out.
There's obviously something to be said for consistency, but that doesn't make me feel some desire to see a documentary on them.
@ Univarn… Don't force it. If MJ isn't your thing, then you have no reason to watch this movie.
His passing bummed me out a little bit, but not nearly as much as when other musicians died recently (Joe Strummer, Ray Charles, Kurt Cobain, and Johnny Cash to name a few).
This is a pretty-well-done assembly of what his concert woulda been…..it's not a game-changing documentary.
OK, now you've got me. Between your review and this one http://www.sacurrent.com/film/review.asp?rid=14030, I'll see it.
@ Megan… Wow! That reviewer got a lot more from his screening than I got from mine, though there were people at mine trying to pull the crowd in a more interactive direction. (The audience at large was having nothing of it).
See it, it's good. Just don't go in expecting it to change your life or anything.