Michael (7.5/10)

Going into Michael, I had seen a mix of great reviews and terrible ones, so I wasn't sure what to expect. After watching it, I came away thinking it was an above-average biopic.

The biggest strength of the film is the performance portraying Michael Jackson. It captures his presence well, and the musical sequences are easily the highlight of the movie. Those moments are entertaining, well done, and make up a large part of what makes the film enjoyable. My biggest issue is that the story covers such a large span of Michael Jackson's life that it skips over a lot of important moments. The film focuses heavily on his relationship with his father, but there was so much more to his life and career that could have been explored. Because of that, the movie feels very surface-level at times, leaving a number of interesting details unexplained. Overall, I think Michael does a good job as an entertaining musical biopic, even if it doesn't dive as deeply into its subject as I would have liked. "The story of pop superstar Michael Jackson -- from his extraordinary early days in the Jackson 5 to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fuels a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world."