You can easily argue that Michael Jackson was, is, and always will be the biggest star in the world of music. You would have more than enough reasons to defend that position. His legend is so monumental that not even the most disturbing scandals away from the stage could bring it down. Approaching a figure of this magnitude in a fictional biographical film is no easy task. Michael (2026), directed by Antoine Fuqua, ventures into those waters. It attempts to put the genie back in the bottle, to humanize a demigod, to touch the myth and make it come alive once again on screen.

With a screenplay by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Skyfall), the film takes us through the earliest stage of Michael Jackson’s life. From his childhood in Gary with his parents and siblings, to his days as part of The Jackson 5, all the way to the group’s definitive breakup and his rise to the top as a solo artist. Michael approaches the music icon with a tone of reverence, idealizing the figure and in the process reducing him to something one-dimensional. We know we are watching a work of fiction and not a documentary, but the biographical rigor fades in the face of its desire for propaganda. We barely get to see any shades of gray. MJ is presented to us from a single perspective, and that diminishes a figure of this magnitude.

The magic only appears in brief moments, the concerts, the musical numbers, the dance sequences, that’s where Michael reveals its best side. But then we return to the earthly world to learn about those small personal details that shaped the man behind the icon. Here, the film does not flow with the same rhythm; it feels episodic and superficial. Essentially, we become trapped in a father-son conflict. Colman Domingo steps into the role of the abusive and manipulative Joseph Jackson, while Jaafar Jackson portrays the teenage Michael. Jaafar is one of the film’s brightest spots, especially when we watch him revive his uncle through those legendary dance moves and by replicating almost every gesture with uncanny precision.

Antoine Fuqua constructs a safe portrait, perfectly calculated to move audiences without ever daring to take risks or confront difficult truths. Its main interest lies in preserving the myth, but in doing so, it loses that almost supernatural presence Michael Jackson projected. The film fails to capture the complexity of a figure we already know far too much about. That is where Michael faces a great problem: the film wants to bring us closer to the child, the teenager, the man, yet in the process, it drifts away from the mystery, the controversy, and the magic that turned MJ into an unforgettable and irreplaceable figure.