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closeWednesday, Oct. 28, 2009
Chance to watch a tireless Jackson at work makes 'This Is It' worth it
Chance to watch a tireless Jackson at work makes 'This Is It’ worth every minute
By PRESTON JONES
dfw.com
MCT
ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE: Michael Jackson rehearses at the Staples Center in L.A. on June 23, 2009. MCT
An almost overwhelming sadness permeates every frame of Michael Jackson’s This Is It.
Not just because its star, Michael Jackson, died far too soon at the age of 50; This Is It also functions as a requiem of sorts to the kind of pop star who no longer exists.
A telling moment comes midway through, when Jackson struggles with the popular "in-ear monitor," which pipes in the band’s performance. "I just came up using my actual ears," Jackson says. "It feels like someone’s stuffed a fist in my ear." The current crop of Top 40 pop stars should hang its head in shame.
The film, culled from more than 100 hours of rehearsal footage for Jackson’s sold-out 50-show run at London’s O2 Arena, wasn’t meant to serve as a cinematic wailing wall but rather as a DVD revenue stream attached to what would’ve surely been an unforgettable spectacle.
Jackson died in June, eight days before leaving for London and mounting a comeback designed to erase a decade’s worth of bad memories and foul press. This Is It, a raw, engaging glimpse at Jackson’s creative process, reveals a dedicated, prickly perfectionist, sitting at odds with the media’s descriptions of him. Where’s the addled pop icon who barely held it together?
Some of the most absorbing sequences reveal the depth of Jackson’s drive; watching as he meticulously sets a mood for The Way You Make Me Feel, from the earliest rehearsals through to the near-final product, one sees exactly why he earned the title King of Pop. His tireless adjustments and constant quest for excellence clearly try the patience of his collaborators, but the results are so hard to resist. The songs and staging burst off the screen.
Jackson doesn’t step quite as lively as he once did, and his voice has lost a bit of its luster, but when he leans into Smooth Criminal or croons Human Nature, the years fall away.
No other project that Jackson’s estate will oversee will do as much to burnish his considerable reputation as Michael Jackson’s This Is It (only in theaters for a limited two-week run). Those who cynically speculate that this hastily assembled film is nothing more than a crass cash grab aren’t entirely wrong, but there’s something more powerful at work here. Watching him create, free from anything other than the context of the show — that appears to be This Is It’s true reason for existing.
A version of this review ran on Wednesday’s Live! page.
****
Director: Kenny Ortega
Running time: 112 min.
Rating: PG (suggestive choreography, scary images)
Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic, 817-390-7713
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