Michael Jackson - This Is It (oh yes, it's a review)

Britney’s Circus, Pink’s Fun House and Beyoncés Sasha Fierce are among the best in a current run of extravagant, bombastic , military-precise pop tours. However if we were to believe the vision showcased by Kenny Ortega (the concert and film’s director) and Michael Jackson in This Is It, none of the current crop of pop-starlets would have held a proverbial slow-song candle to possibly the greatest concert never to be staged.

This Is It becomes an important reminder, amongst the plethora of news and gossip regarding Jackson’s personal life, of why generations of pop music fans loved him in the first place. Here we see Michael Jackson the artist: the dancer, singer, songwriter, choreographer, stage and perfectionist involved in (seemingly) every element in producing a massive pop spectacle. Where he isn’t saving his voice, he sounds as good as ever and moves phenomenally, holding his own amongst young and energetic, star-struck and wide eyed backup dancers half his age. Ortega provides an insight into Jackson’s deep understanding of his music and how it translates to live performance, picking over the details of ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ with a keyboard player, explaining the need to allow the introduction to ‘simmer’ and build into the cocksure-stride characteristic of the song. This is Michael Jackson the masterful old-school showman, at one end exploding with energy in the opening ‘Wanna Be Startin Somethin’ and later acknowledging the power of silence to convey his message in the aftermath of ‘Earth Song’. Once any sliver of music begins during rehearsal, MJ begins to move as if his body can’t function without it, and his passion for his craft is engaging and endearing. Many wouldn’t remember the last time they’d seen him smile and seem so comfortable on screen, so embedded in the public consciousness are images of Jackson with an umbrella and dark shades exiting a courtroom, or snapped despairingly through a Jeep’s tinted windows.

There are highlights in the supporting cast; particularly Australian guitarist Orianthi Panagaris who impressively shreds an interpretation of the ‘Beat It’ solo paying homage to Eddie Van Halen’s original while injecting it with a style of her own. Amongst the drug addictions, the insomnia, the chequered and sheltered upbringing, This Is It is a note that an artist is defined by his art, and that their legacy will always lie within that work. Certainly, MJ appears uplifted when surrounded by the undoubtedly familiar environment of performance and he has a natural ability to nurture and bring out the best in everyone around him, noted duly by almost everyone in the film. This is Jackson’s show and if ever there were solace for fans looking for closure, or Doubting Thomas’s wondering if Jackson could ever surpass the Timberlake’s, Beyoncés and others he’s influenced in every way, then This Is It.