US REVIEW: Michael Jackson's This Is It: ****
Credit: Steve Graniz/WireImage.com
Culled together from footage shot during rehearsals last spring for Michael Jackson's 50-date London tour, this part documentary, part concert film -- which opens today on 3,500 screens (including IMAX locations nationwide) -- shows an agile, passionate and humor-filled entertainer who displays no hints of his coming death on June 25.
While Jackson certainly looks skinny (the 5'9" singer was 136 pounds when he died), he proves to be a flexible and disciplined dancer on stage, and surprisingly nearly as skilled a singer as he was in his prime. Choreographer and filmmaker Kenny Ortega, a longtime MJ collaborator who directed the tour as well as the movie (he also helmed the High School Musical flicks), packs the film with Jackson classics, especially the high-energy recreations of hits "Thriller" and "Beat It," in which the entertainer and his pack of toned back-up dancers follow the exact choreography from the iconic videos (the doc also includes scenes from an irresistible "Thriller" remake that was meant to run during the concert).
See photos of Michael Jackson's kids saying their finale farewell
While MJ's just as eccentric as ever -- he wears sunglasses throughout the already-dark rehearsals, and matches orange jeans with a silver blazer in a way only the 50-year-old Jackson could -- he also shows surprising grit: At one point he admonishes his audio technicians, "it feels like someone's fist is being shoved into my ear," and when a section doesn't go well with his dancers, he scolds, "that's why we rehearse." (Speaking of his back-up brigade, don't miss the hysterical moment when they practice MJ's signature crotch-grab.)
See how Michael Jackson's face has changed
While the film occasionally drags in the last third (it has one too many ballads, and Jackson's earnestness becomes cloying when he discusses the environment), overall it's a highly charged, personal and captivating peek at the last few weeks of a man who certainly didn't look close to death.
-BRADLEY JACOBS
Tell Us What You Think
7I found this movie to be fascinating. It was a behind the scenes look at the making of a concert. I hope it gets an Oscar nomination for something because I think that the director (Kenny Ortega) deserves one for the editing job he did with this footage. I would like to thank him and everyone else involved for doing such a great job in putting this together. My generation will never forget Michael Jackson. He meant a lot to people who were born after 1960, he was our Elvis. My generation missed out on the the whole Beatlemania thing also. MJ was one of our brightest stars.
It was incredible. Going to see it again!!!!
From the clips i saw it will be amazing. Cant wait to see it. MJ surely would have made the biggest and best comeback anyone would have ever seen. Going to see it friday night
From the clips i saw it will be amazing. Cant wait to see it. MJ surely would have made the biggest and best comeback anyone would have ever seen. Going to see it friday night
I can't wait to see it! I've seem clips on the Facebook page which I highly recommend. Just search: ThisIsItMovie on Facebook.) They really show you what the film is going to be like. Not to mention, the reviews so far have been great!
Going this weekend!! SO EXCITED!!!!!
I saw it last night and it was AMAZING! He sounded just like the albums, but you could really tell it was him! For it not even being a dress rehersal you could tell it would have been an amazing show and def. a comeback!