Michael Jackson's This Is It: MSN Review

For one thing, fans never saw him as gaunt and frail as he looks while choreographing his various dance routines, visibly withholding the energy he would need once the gig was up and running. We never saw him as tetchy as he is when complaining about his head-set (“I feel like a fist is being pushed in my ear!”), or as exasperated as he seems while attempting to make one of his backing musicians play The Way You Make Me Feel “the way I wrote it”.

 

We have also never seen him as weary and confused as he appears during a group hug with his dancers, which begins with him exhorting them to appreciate the “wonderful adventure” they have embarked upon and ends with a rambling plea for humankind to heal the world.

 

In short, those seeking proof that Michael bit off more than he could chew in agreeing to such an arduous professional commitment will probably find enough evidence here to support their claim. From what we see, also, it’s extremely doubtful he would have been physically able to perform all the dates planned by the greedy money men some have accused of cynically hastening his demise.

 

There’s absolutely no doubt, though, that the show would have been a sight to behold, and that Jackson would have done everything he could to make it a night to remember. He may have been a skeletal insomniac in private, dependent on medications from his resident phalanx of Doctor Feelgoods. On camera, though, he is a driven perfectionist, determined not to shortchange his fans with anything less than the concert spectacular of a lifetime.

 

With so many elements still not in place at the time of Jackson’s death – including a JCB that would appear behind him at the end of ‘Earth Song’ and a futuristic robotic sarcophagus out of which he had planned to emerge at the start of ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ – it’s sometimes hard to tell from Kenny Ortega’s film what the finished concert would have looked like.

 

It is clear, though, that the ‘Smooth Criminal’ sequence would have been a stand-out, Michael having already filmed a terrific black-and-white introduction which saw him magically sharing the screen with Rita Hayworth, Edward G Robinson and Humphrey Bogart. ‘Thriller’ would have been something special too, at least if a new 3D film of zombies crawling out of their graves is anything to go by.

 

It is a mark of Jackson’s charisma, however, that the best moments of This Is It don’t need such embellishments. Rather, they are scenes that show him alone on the Staples Center stage going through his litany of spins, poses and crotch grabs as he half-sings, half-speaks the likes of ‘Billie Jean’, ‘I’ll Be There’ and ‘Man In The Mirror’. “Please understand,” he says apologetically to the ecstatic onlookers cheering his every move. “I’m trying to conserve my throat.” Even at 50% capacity, though, he is a force to be reckoned with – leaving us all the sadder that This Is It is all that remains of his final swansong.