Sunday, November 01, 2009
A+E, Music, In this Issue..., Movies, Reviews

“The final curtain call”

Jackson’s swan song is a Thriller

BY STEVE WARREN

Despite the mercenary desperation behind it, “Michael Jackson's This Is It” isn’t nearly as bad as it might have been. It’s accurately described in publicity as a “behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena.”

If the process of building a show interests you, “This” is indeed it. If you go in expecting a full-blown concert performance—and you have no reason to expect that—you’ll be disappointed. As MJ sings and dances his way through some 20 songs, you get a hint of what the final show might have been. Sometimes bits from different rehearsals are cut together, while the soundtrack plays the best available recording, so the star is usually singing full-out, even when he claims to be saving his voice.

Dancers from all over the world are shown auditioning, in a montage with a hint of “A Chorus Line.” When they perform, their precision is somewhere between military and a Swiss watch. There are also top-notch musicians, vocalists and even an aerialist. There’s a new “Thriller” film shot in 3-D with a new narrator, and, most entertaining of all, a film noir montage accompanying “Smooth Criminal,” with Jackson sitting in the audience during Rita Hayworth’s “Gilda” and being chased and shot at by Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson.

Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical”) gets director credit for the show and the film, but most of the directing we see him doing consists of kissing Michael’s butt. At several points in the show, it’s up to MJ to cue everyone else by doing what he’s supposed to do when he feels like doing it.

There’s a brief bit of tension when the music director dares to tell Michael he should be present for a sound check, and a rare diva moment when MJ chastises a musician, who replies, “It’s getting there.” “Get it there,” Jackson tells him. At other times, trying to live up to his image as a weird but humble perfectionist, the 50-year-old boy tosses out more “God bless you”s than you’d hear in an H1N1 ward.

Just about everyone gets to do a sound bite about what a thrill it is to work with the King of Pop. At times it’s like one of those home videos someone shoots at a wedding reception to give to the happy couple. There’s little acknowledgement of Jackson’s tabloid past, or of the fact that despite some hits in the early ’90s, he hadn’t been musically relevant in 20 years. (His more recent material provides the film with its low points.)

For fans of foreshadowing, there’s a press conference announcing the concerts in which MJ says, “This is the final curtain call.” And what’s with the black armband he wears on his jacket while rehearsing “The Way You Make Me Feel”?

Mostly, though, “This Is It” is a love fest with hard work and bits of fun, as when a choreographer tries to instruct the male dancers in the fine art of crotch-grabbing, comparing it to a Baryshnikov move. When Michael says, “At least we get the feel of it,” after a rehearsal of “Billie Jean,” it’s not clear whether he means the song or the portion of his anatomy he’s had his hand on through much of the song.

If the London concerts really had sold out, perhaps the Western world was ready for a Michael Jackson revival. He still had the voice and the moves, and would certainly have put on a better show than some of the cheeseball bands that do reunion tours. Now we’re being deluged with Jackson product, and it’s selling as if there were no recession, so it’s only fair that the group behind his show should get their share.

In the end, Michael Jackson didn’t have to reinvent himself; his fans did it for him. Perhaps they’ll be able to look at the strange—but still talented—person he became and remember (a brief Jackson 5 montage may help) the person he once was. “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” gives you that opportunity. And given the circumstances of its creation, it’s better than we could have dared to hope for. 3 STARS