Taped during rehearsals for the late Michael Jackson’s London
comeback tour which was not to be, This Is It is captures the essence of
a Prince of Pop concert, only sans audience. In this regard, the movie
actually allows for a much more intimate experience than one taped in
front of throngs of loud, distracting and adoring fans. For here, in the
empty Staples Center in Los Angeles, you’re able to focus strictly on
Michael, and to listen to him interact with his crew and collaborators
in between numbers instead of deafening applause.
For, there’s Michael plus an elaborate menagerie comprised of
musicians, backup singers, crotch-grapping dancers, strippers on poles,
daredevil tightrope aerialists, costumed actors in masks, pyrotechnics,
a blue screen showing a variety of images, human toasters (you’ll see),
smoke and wind machines, everything but Mad Dogs and Englishmen. And
they all combine to put on quite a show, even if perfectionist Michael
periodically interrupts to adjust the lighting, the sound level or the
play of one of his accompanists.
The film features plenty of inspired musical performances, including
Billie Jean, Thriller, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal, The Way You
Make Me Feel, I Want You Back, The Love You Save, I’ll Be There and the
title track. What we repeatedly see here is a multi-talented genius at
work, a man perhaps most comfortable in this milieu, namely, on stage,
whether he’s complaining about an earpiece (“It feels like someone’s
fist is shoved into my ear.”), orchestrating complicated choreography,
or doing a soulful duet with Judith Hill, the beautiful
African-Asian-American soprano who would later sing Heal the World
shortly thereafter at his funeral.
Again and again, Michael takes charge, for he knows exactly how he
wants each tune to sound and look in order to satisfy his fans. And
because he was so unguarded and totally oblivious of the rolling
cameras, this flick captures him more authentically than any previous
footage this critic has witnessed (including that Martin Brashear BBC
documentary), and reveals the very likable persona of an icon who was
obviously born to entertain.
Not a ghoulish take-the-money-and-run rip-off, but a surprisingly
sweet, sensitive, tenderhearted swan song you will never forget that
will have you shedding a tear while tapping your feet.
Rated PG for suggestive choreography and scary images.
Running time: 112 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures
To see a trailer for This Is It, visit:
Lloyd Kam Williams
Lloyd
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who
writes for 100+ publications around the U.S. and Canada. He is a member of
the African-American Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics
Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, and Rotten Tomatoes. In
addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from
Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam
lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.
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Lloyd
Kam Williams 