‘Michael’ (2h07m), directed by Antoine Fuqua
Like many moviegoers, I recently watched the new biopic Michael (2026), based on the life of Michael Jackson. It is one of those rare breeds that has been met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from film critics while obliterating box-office records. For anyone familiar with the Jackson story, this should come as no surprise: it merely continues his life’s legacy – a cacophony of eviscerating tabloid treatment and enduring fan adulation.
The film itself concludes on a positive note in 1988, with the young Michael performing on his first solo tour. But the story is not without tremendous struggle. The scenes of his childhood reveal the brutal rehearsal regimes imposed by his father and former manager Joseph Jackson, who refused to let his children call him “Dad”. Michael is also beaten with a belt and routinely taunted about his physical appearance – criticism that reportedly led him to seek two rhinoplasties as an adult.
