As the familiar disco rhythm of "Wanna be Starting Something" blares from the cinema speakers, the audience of Michael Jackson's This is It is no longer at the movies, but in the Staples Center, watching the King of Pop give his best one last time. The documentary begins with interviews of several of the dancers, who had come from all over the world, for a chance to share the stage with Michael Jackson. All of them shared the same message: Michael had been a figure of inspiration for each of them as artists. After these comments, the quiet tone of the documentary explodes into a spectacle of color and lights, with Michael at the center of it, singing and dancing like when he was in his prime. The documentary, directed by Kenny Ortega, features footage from the rehearsals, beginning in March and ending just days before his death on June 25th, for the 50 sold-out concerts in London which were to begin in July of 2009.
Ortega and Jackson work in tandem to not only do justice to the hits the fans love, but also to infuse them with new and exciting elements, modernize the costumes, and create new video footage for "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal." The new "Thriller" video is taken to a higher level, with creepier zombies and new dance moves that enhance the classic "Thriller" dance that so many know by heart. Jackson and the eleven zombie dancers perform the famous "Thriller" dance with added twists, like the fusing of one of Jackson's later songs, "Ghosts," into the music. "The Way You Make Me Feel" is also given some new flavor when it is slowed down into a bluesy number that Jackson describes as feeling like "you're trying to get out of bed in the morning." Jackson teases us with a verse of this slowed down version of the hit song, before launching back into the original version that gets all listeners off their seats and on their feet.
Michael seeks a level of perfection to make the audience "feel it" the way he did while writing it. The documentary features Jackson demonstrating his creative authority and his incredible skill to the other musicians, bewildering the skilled performers with his ability to discover just the right sound. He uses his own terminology to describe just how the songs should sound, coining new phrases like, "You have to let it simmer!" or "I'm sizzling." Jackson responds to questions from the crew with simple statements like, "I'll feel it," which he does, getting the cues exactly and achieving the sound he desires to hear effortlessly. For Jackson, at the heart of all the rehearsals and the preparation of the concerts is his message of love. Jackson was quoted as saying the concerts meant a lot to him because it was an opportunity for his children to get to see their father perform. Between songs are beautiful moments of Jackson laughing and smiling with his crew, creating songs on the spot about love and how everything they do is done with "the L-O-V-E, love."
With the rehearsal footage so impressive, there is no doubt that the concerts would have been a breathtaking thing to behold. The passion of all involved surpasses the splendor of the pyrotechnics and visual effects. The question remains though as to whether or not Jackson would have had the strength and endurance to actually complete the 50-concert tour. While his skill and power are still obvious, Jackson's frail form and extremely thin frame are difficult to ignore. While the film casts a spell over the audience, it is impossible to completely escape the reality that this superstar performer is dead and that no one will be able to see these performances live. The film includes the now famous rehearsal footage of "They Don't Really Care About Us," footage that was released to the public after his death as "the last performance" of Michael Jackson. This footage jolts the audience back into the reality that this film is truly an incredible recording of the last performances of one of the greatest entertainers of all time.
Whether or not Jackson would have been able to deliver for fifty performances, he does deliver in the film. He shines most brightly in "Billie Jean" where he gives a performance reminiscent of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Motown where he first shocked the world with his dancing and the debut of the moonwalk. He takes the stage by himself in the rehearsal footage of this song, and brings his dancers to their feet, cheering the man's sensational footwork. It truly is a thrill to see Jackson, in the film, performing the now famous dances of "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal," and "Thriller" with the same power and energy he does in the music videos that awed the world. It is also haunting to see him perform a medley of Jackson 5 songs, including "Give Me One More Chance," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." It is moving to hear Jackson sing "I'll Be There," a song about friendship and love because it resonates with a different type of passion and emotion. Michael is no longer the child who sang the song as we know it. He is an adult who has seen much suffering and loneliness in his life, making the song a moment of quiet reflection about the life of a complicated man, singing with all his heart on the screen.
As someone that is a huge fan of Michael Jackson, I was extraordinarily happy with the film. I found that it re-established Jackson as the brilliant entertainer that he was known as, and affirmed that he was, in fact, still completely capable of performing to new heights of greatness. What makes this film more important though, is the fact that Michael Jackson had a message that he wanted to share with the world, a message that was tarnished by molestation charges, his reclusive lifestyle, and the overall "strangeness" of his behavior by the end of his life. Jackson's passion for making the world a better place for children pours out of him as he fervently sings the songs "Earth Song" and "Man in the Mirror," songs whose lyrics speak of making change and taking action to better the world. In the film, Jackson says that he wrote songs like these to give "some kind of awareness and awakening and hope to people." As the credits roll, the song, "Heal the World" plays, a song that Jackson declared his proudest work, a song that also captures his message: to make the world a better place for children.
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