Michael Jackson's This Is It

Editorial

The Thriller might be gone but this unusual, pumpin’ and catchy concert film ensures the King Of Pop has a fitting, funkified epitaph. Warning: fans are guaranteed to spontaneously combust with sadness and joy. Watch out if you’re sitting nearby.

Compiled from more than 100 hours of footage taken this year during rehearsals for what was to be Michael Jackson’s final tour, This Is It works as a lively showcase to a musical titan, and as a revealing look inside the giant behind-the-scenes machine around him.

Director Kenny Ortega (High School Musical principal, Jackson’s mate and stage manager) does a top job of keeping the focus on MJ’s moves and grooves, while including instructive tangents that offer unexpected insights in to one of the world’s most influential artists.

Rapid but telling asides about auditioning the back-up dancers, or how the pyrotechnics and stage design were going to play out, are complimentary clothing for the star in the spotlight.

Unlike the uber-slick production of most concert movies, This Is It has an unvarnished quality which lends it a raw pulse and endearing humanity.

Being able to experience technical difficulties (“it’s like someone is jamming their fist in my ear”) during a Jackson 5 medley, or how the one-gloved one has to nurse his voice and body, contrasts beautifully with the amazing showmanship of this 50-year-old entertainer. Even when he’s a bit rickety or seemingly forgetful, Jackson remains unmistakably Jackson.

Smooth Criminal, The Way You Make Me Feel, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ and all the hits are given a new lease on life by Ortega’s understanding construction of imperfect materials.

The buzz does drop off as This Is It moonwalks into the second hour, energy levels flagging like any cracking concert which starts so strongly.

Jackson’s infamous eccentricities are largely absent – a late “save the planet” pitch is the pinnacle of the sparse oddball remarks – but you will find Wacko Jacko ammunition if you’re looking for it.

However, most will be just straining to see anything of the King Of Pop’s final moves. This Is It, indeed, and you’d better hurry to get a gander; this Jackson special will be only in cinemas for two weeks.

Zach Gibson