Jackson's fluid dancing is awe-inspiring, and it even inspires such a
reaction from his beefcake dancers, who for a good portion of the film
are just watching and applauding their boss. The other portion they're
nailing the acrobatic dance moves and looking kind of like juiced up Fraggles.
“This Is It”
Cast: Michael Jackson
Director: Kenny Ortega
Rating: PG
Grade: ➊➋➌➍➎
REVIEW. In the seven months since Michael Jackson announced his plans to perform a series of concerts to be called “This Is It,” the intended interpretation of the phrase — a final extended celebration to crown an amazing career in show business — has dwindled down to mean “this is all we have left.”
The movie resulting from the rehearsals for the 50 shows holds a little bit of both meanings, which actually gives it a very powerful emotional punch.
The performances captured are said to have only been intended for Jackson’s personal use, so it’s hard to fault the film for being unpolished, which it definitely is, and we’re given such a clear glimpse of Jackson the performance perfectionist, that watching him behind-the-scenes feels voyeuristic, knowing that he would have never allowed such a rough film to be shown to his fans were he still alive. He is caught between bitching to his musicians, “I want it like the way I wrote it,” and the next moment thanking God for them.
“Human
Nature” will raise the hairs on your arms and you won’t be able to resist
snapping along to “Billie Jean” but then you have to watch Jackson make
unconscious self-deprecating remarks about his performance.
It is within this field between opposite energies that “This Is It” sets itself so far apart from any other concert film that has come before it. And because of Jackson’s untimely death, this film is how we’re invited to celebrate his life, and our own lives in how his music relates to us.
It’s just more than a little frustrating that the production he and his crew were working so hard towards would never come to be, and that the day after he encourages the team to take audiences to “places they’ve never been before” is the day he died. But that is where the tragic beauty of this film lies, that his final dream was never realized, that this is it.