Michael's reviews
Media reviews
Screen Rant
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.
USA Today
This is Jackson in his element as he prepares to take the stage. An icon. An inimitable tsunami of movement and voice. A once-in-several-generations visionary.
Collider
Michael Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, shines in a dazzling, incomplete music biopic about his uncle alongside Oscar nominee Colman Domingo.
The Hollywood Reporter
Whether it will continue in a second film remains an open question, though based on Michael, it seems safe to assume an eventual Part II would be unlikely to tackle the thornier issues head-on. Still, ignoring the scandal certainly hasn’t hurt the Broadway musical MJ, now in its fourth year in addition to a national tour and multiple international transfers. Nor did it stop Kenny Ortega’s posthumous 2009 film, This Is It, from becoming the highest-grossing documentary of all time.
Variety
In an effective middle-of-the-road biopic, Jaafar Jackson nails the look, the moves — and the mix of delicacy and steel that made Michael who he was.
Los Angeles Times
Jaafar Jackson, nephew of the biopic's subject, makes an uncanny King of Pop, but the movie about his rise, directed by Antoine Fuqua, leaves a lot unspoken.
Slashfilm
Michael isn't a biopic, but a commercial for Michael Jackson that works hard to avoid anything controversial about the King of Pop. Here's our review.
Indiewire
Antoine Fuqua's biopic features strong performances, a paper-thin script, and a unshakably icky lack of major events.
The Guardian
Rammed with every music-movie cliche, an almost mute supporting cast and a Michael who only produces endless smiley blandness, this is a frustratingly shallow film
Screen Crush
This dutiful biography of the King of Pop has great music and not much else.
Rolling Stone
Which still doesn't excuse Antoine Fuqua's heavily scrubbed origin story, which refashions the King of Pop's story into the Passion of St. Michael.