{"id":220620,"date":"2026-08-08T22:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T03:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=220620"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T03:35:59","slug":"radican-at-the-movies-a-look-at-michael-an-incomplete-portrayal-of-the-late-pop-icons-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/08\/radican-at-the-movies-a-look-at-michael-an-incomplete-portrayal-of-the-late-pop-icons-life\/","title":{"rendered":"RADICAN AT THE MOVIES: &#8220;Michael&#8221; is an incomplete portrayal of the late pop icon&#8217;s life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-775415640\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>\u201cMichael,\u201d is a biographical movie on the life Michael Jackson made with the heavy involvement of the late artist&#8217;s family. It is an incomplete overview of his life. The high points of the film are the music and recreations of Jackson\u2019s performances that span his career from a youngster in The Jackson 5 through the time following the release of the \u201cBad\u201d albumin 1987. The rest of the film provides fleeting glimpses of who Michael Jackson was and what his life was like growing up with his siblings and overbearing father Joe Jackson played by Colman Domingo, who is an excellent actor, but he is stymied by the handicaps of the script that portray him as an antagonist in Michael\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>Jaafar Jackson, the real life nephew of Michael Jackson, does an amazing job of portraying his uncle in the movie. He brings his uncle to life recreating his mannerisms, speech, and musical performances. The musical performances throughout the movie make you wish this wasn\u2019t such a flawed look at Jackson\u2019s life. The recreation of Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cThriller\u201d video is especially memorable.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson\u2019s young life is painted in broad brushes. His father Joe was overbearing and abusive, but there\u2019s only one scene where he whips young Michael (Juliano Krue Valdi) with a belt for talking back to him that really hits home about what things were really like at home for Jackson and his brothers. His mother Katherine (Nia Long) does nothing to stop Joe&#8217;s abuse. Valdi is equally as good as Jaafar Jackson in portraying the younger Michael during the early stages of the movie.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-8-5-keller-halley-talk-night-of-1-000-highspots-great-arena-mexico-crowd-mjf-s-return-all-in-line-up-thoughts--73537594\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (8\/5): Keller &amp; Halley talk Night of 1,000 Highspots, great Arena Mexico crowd, MJF's return, All In line-up thoughts\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=73537594&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Jackson\u2019s siblings are merely extras throughout the movie. None of his brothers and sisters are given any sort of attention or characterization. They mine as well have been extras given the lack of depth given to their characters by the script. Janet Jackson isn\u2019t even mentioned or portrayed in the movie, but that\u2019s not a surprise because she also abstained from being an executive producer on the film as well.<\/p>\n<p>As Michael grows older, the viewer gets brief glimpses into his personality. His love for toys and Disney are showcased, but the film doesn\u2019t offer any examination of why Michael ended up that way. There\u2019s no exploration of him growing up too fast under his father\u2019s guidance and forced to do things a child his age shouldn\u2019t be doing. The movie portrays him as the man that never grew up, but there\u2019s no depth to the script to explain why Michael ended up the way that he did.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s almost as if Joe softens as Michael grows older and it comes off as odd to see him embrace his son adopting exotic animals like a monkey and a giraffe. He laughs them off and it\u2019s almost as if the audience is supposed to laugh along with Michael\u2019s absurd interests for someone his age. On a side note, there is one hilarious scene where Michael\u2019s monkey goes crazy playing the game Twister and I\u2019m still trying to decide if it was supposed to be funny or not.<\/p>\n<p>Once Michael tells Joe he wants to be a solo artist, Domingo goes back to portraying someone that\u2019s more of an antagonist than anything else. The script is uneven at best in its portrayal of Joe, who is manipulative when Michael tells him he wants to start his career as a solo artist, but there\u2019s nothing that approaches the level of abuse and anger he shows the younger Michael when he whips him with a belt in the aforementioned scene earlier in the movie.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-589218962\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The movie bounces around once it gets to Jackson\u2019s solo career going from \u201cOff the Wall\u201d to \u201cThriller\u201d to \u201cBad.\u201d Much like the viewer isn\u2019t given much of a glimpse of who Michael was as a person, it also doesn\u2019t give the viewer much of a look of who he was as an artist either. Director Antoine Faqua seems compelled to zip through the timeline given to the movie Michael\u2019s before it cuts off around the time \u201cBad\u201d was released.<\/p>\n<p>Overall score: (**): This movie is shallow and hollow at best. You get some glimpse into who Jackson was as a person, but they are few and far between. The movie cuts off before it can examine any of the controversies in Jackson\u2019s life. I enjoyed the musical performances in the movie and Jafaar\u2019s recreation of some of Michael\u2019s biggest dance routines and music videos, but the film offers such an incomplete picture of its subject.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Michael&#8221; is now available to purchase at all major retail outlets on 4K, Blu-ray, and digital formats.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Sean Radican has been Pro Wrestling Torch for over 23 years. He has covered the independents, ROH, and NJPW in-depth over the years in addition to also watching all the major promotions in the U.S. PWTorch VIP members get access to his weekly Radican Worldwide podcast looking at a variety of news topics from the past week and then an in-depth Go-Home segment with a guest on a big topic of the week. You can contact him at <a href=\"mailto:pwtorchsean@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pwtorchsean@gmail.com<\/a>. You can follow him on X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sr_torch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SR_Torch<\/a> and on Bluesky @SeanRadican.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (8\/5) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Halley\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3vrKqhjFQB8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3473452258\"><div id=\"pwtor-374332419\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u201cMichael,\u201d is a biographical movie on the life Michael Jackson made with the heavy involvement of the late artist&#8217;s family. It is an incomplete overview of his life. The high points of the film are <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/08\/radican-at-the-movies-a-look-at-michael-an-incomplete-portrayal-of-the-late-pop-icons-life\/\" title=\"RADICAN AT THE MOVIES: &#8220;Michael&#8221; is an incomplete portrayal of the late pop icon&#8217;s life\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":220622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,59,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-take_radican","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/08\/IMG_7747.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220620"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220624,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220620\/revisions\/220624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}