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Michael Jackson's This Is It Film Review
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by Michael Montroy
This Is It is an engrossing look into a concert that, tragically, never happened. The film opened on more than 3,400 domestic screens and another 27 international screens for a two-week run, which will be extended if the demand is there. By all accounts, demand is more than there.
Instead of a concert film, This Is It can be called the first concert rehearsal movie, revealing that the world truly missed one incredible concert. The film captures the pure creativity of one of pop culture’s amazing entertainers. The film is constantly filled with performers of all kinds (musicians, choreographers, and crew) but the focus is forever on Michael Jackson. Watching him prepare for the concerts, one truly understands what it takes to reach the pinnacle in the world of entertainment.
"This Is It" was be Michael Jackson’s comeback concert engagement, 50 sold out concerts in London’s O2 Arena this past summer. However, all of that anticipation came to a tragic end with the 50-year-old’s death this past June 25.
The footage that has been gathered for this project is very professional, as if it was planned all along, although with different intentions. The footage that has been formulated into this production didn’t come from cell phone cameras or grainy snapshots from far away. The interviews were produced with the intention of going to this professional release.
The amazing thing to watch is how such an incredible concert was taking shape. The effort that was being put forth was intended for eye-catching performance in a stadium worthy of a dazzling show – one fitting for the 02 Arena. There are dancers popping up through trap doors and a bulldozer being used to make a statement for saving rain forests.
Supposedly costing Sony $60million, Kenny Ortega, the director of the stage show, has put together this movie from 120 hours of digital-video footage. The footage was taken during rehearsals from March through June at Staples Center in Los Angeles and also includes casting sessions at the Nokia Theatre and video sequences filmed at Sony. For example, shooting in front of a Sony green screen, MJ gets blended into old black-and-white movie footage in order to admire Rita Hayworth's wiggle and dance around bullets being shot by Humphrey Bogart and Edward Robinson.
Even though Ortega is referred to as the director, there really is no question as to who the true director is as MJ is in complete control. Ortega merely watches over the production while Jackson manages every moment onstage. MJ’s directions are poetic as he talks about the tempo, which found him saying at one point, "It has to simmer."
This is a rehearsal film yet the film does try hard to be a concert film without having actual concert footage. The film moves the various production numbers like it’s gearing for a concert presentation but it doesn’t deliver and this has a tendency to throw off the audiences at times. Jackson is shaping his concert presentation but his life was cut short before he could deliver the masterpiece. Everyone so much wanted to see that masterpiece.
The master is also revealed in soft and touching moments as was the case with the simple stage presentation of "Billie Jean." Perhaps, more had been planned for this stage presentation but one will never know because the current came down on this generation’s most charismatic performer.
This Is It is a mesmerizing document. The film shows a performer-songwriter who knows his material confidentially and reveals someone who is seeking the perfect moment to reveal that material. He will feel what he needs to find in order to reveal it to the audience. A lot of his discovery was cut short by his tragic end. However, the feeling he always found in every moment is captured and shared by the audience he lived to entertain.
A Columbia Pictures presentation in association with the Michael Jackson Co. and AEG Live
Director: Kenny Ortega
Producers: Randy Phillips, Kenny Ortega, Paul Gongaware
Executive producers: John Branca, John McClain
Production, title designer: Michael Cotten
Choreography: Michael Jackson, Travis Payne
Music: Michael Bearden
Editor: Don Brochu, Brandon Key, Tim Patterson
Rated PG, 111 minutes
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