Michael - The Film 2026

[BeigeandGreige]

Wanted to start a thread about the new Michael Jackson film, just got home from watching it!

I don’t know why the critics are slating it, I absolutely loved it! Yes, it didn’t show his whole life picture but I think people are forgetting this was just showing one era of it … there is no way you could fit his life story into a 2 hour film!

What’s your thoughts if you’ve seen it ???

What allegations?

Allegations of rape.

Yep I agree. The film is really distasteful.

I don’t know how anyone could watch Leaving Neverland and not think him guilty. Absolutely abhorrent man and it’ll be a cold day in hell before I part with any money that’ll go to his estate.

Why would anyone want to watch anything about a nonce?

Have you watched Leaving Neverland?

Yeh not only that - glorifying him and completely erasing what he has done. If it was about all the horrific things hed done Id watch it. Because I think it is so important to highlight so we can keep learning lessons. The 80s and 90s were a mad time where there was so much child abuse in plain sight and we all ignored it to varying degrees. Seems so unreal by todays standards. Although some things still shock the hell out of me. But I was a kid and teen in the 80s and I adored him, but all this weird stuff was happening but it didn't register. Same with Jimmy Saville. The only way a film should ever be made about him is to talk about that. Now that I would watch!

You are judging them by todays standards. 70s and 80s were a weird time - and celebrities were seen as some kind of special beings. MJ was seen as this amazingly special child-like human. He specifically targeted and groomed single mothers who were poor and desperate for a positive male role model in their kids lives. Some had massive medical bills too due to their child having cancer, which MJ paid for. He heavily groomed the mums too. It sounds mad, but in that climate it wasn't questioned. I was a child and teen at the time and thought he was just this amazing child-like man who adored kids - and had a monkey and a rollercoaster. We understand a lot more about child abuse and grooming now. Christ, grooming wasn't even a word then.

The point of the film is to celebrate the music and artistic genius and ignore all the other stuff. For black people, in particular, there is a strong argument for it being the first universally accepted super star. When I went (I am in London), there were a lot of black people in the audience.
Cancel culture would cancel him entirely, but the music/dance.show element remains unique and genius nevertheless.

mmm...I never thought of the race element. One of the first black superstars. I can see that that is important for black culture. But also the same could be said of Bill Cosby. For black people it was the first time a rich successful black man was shown on TV. For many black people, it inspired them as prior it was unheard of to see a rich, successful, career driven, educated black family.

According to Variety the movie took $217 million globally over the opening weekend and the best start of all time for a biopic. I saw it and enjoyed it for what it is (which is a whitewash over many areas and missing key characters) but Jaafar was amazing and the Pepsi scene in particular very good.

@amibeingaknob to be fair though, the film originalky DID cover the allegations, but all of that had to be remived for legal reasons relating to Jordy Chandler.

The second film possibly. Not the first film as the allegations didn't start until 1993. Film only goes up to 1988.

Yeh but I couldn't watch a film that just ignored all of that - i get there is a timeline, but you can't just focus on all the great stuff and completely ignore all the rest of it. Doesnt feel right.

I saw it yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I left feeling how sad if the allegations weren't true that his memory was tarnished in such a way.

Also on the race element, much has been written about abuse within black families (I am talking here about the physical and emotional abuse by Joseph Jackson within the film). Obviously it is all within historical context and going back to abuse propagated by white men on black slaves and then continued and absorbed generationally (poverty too is linked to abuse). I do not feel that comfortable commenting on this element from a white point of view, nor do I think using the term “whitewash” as some of the press are doing is comfortable either.

Regardless of what anyone thinks or does not think, the musical genius and its influence both during its time and subsequently can never be erased anyway. So exactly how society and within that different communities deal with the whole controversy Iong term, is interesting.
However, going to watch the film does not equate to affirming abuse in any shape or form. One can go and think about it all and have a different view on the whole thing.
I do not think it is a coincidence this film was made now when Trump is in power and being are reexamining cancel culture and wokeism more widely. You cannot just cancel stuff because it is “uncomfortable” especially if it has had actual influence on stuff that goes after.

Fair play to anyone who wants to go and see it - I saw the trailer at the pictures and even that just made me uncomfortable. It's a paid for promotion by the family.

Why couldnt they do it like the Tina Turner movie? In that they just told the full brutal truth - her amazing talent and rise to fame as well as her experiencing and escaping horrific abuse. I think we can and should talk about his amazing talent but also go into the abuse and the backdrop of the time - which was that it was hidden in plain sight. Its important to discuss these things.

I would watch a movie that showed it all - I absolutely would not otherwise.

I saw it this weekend with my family and we loved it. We went for the music and it delivered. How they will cover a part 2 in later years, im unsure- this was a 12A and loads of kids were there. I wonder if the rating will need to be higher for a subsequent film.

MJ was obviously an incredibly troubled man, but guilty of child abuse, i just cant see it.

Yes, paying off the first allegation doesn't look good- however, its been said that this was done not as an admission of guilt, but rather because the cost of a court case would far exceed any monies paid to the alleged victims family- a court case would have also scuppered his Dangerous tour, costing hundreds of millions.

Also, if your child has been abused by this person, surely NO amount of money would suffice- you'd want that person to rot in jail and be removed from society. No-one will ever truly know sadly.

1/3 of the movie was cut after they finished filming and the ending had to be re-shot, Janet Jackson refused to be included and Diana Ross was removed from the Final Cut. You can read all of this online.

See I just don't care about any of the alleged reasons for this. If you can't create the whole story - dont release it. Im amazed audiences are ok with this. But there we are. Nowt as queer as folk.

I find this utterly baffling and shocking. Children going to this film! WTH! However, I wonder whether its a generational thing? Im early 50s. Everyone in my world feels the same way I do (horrified by the whole thing). Are the younger generations just seeing it differently because they weren't exposed to the unfolding like we were?

However the Leaving Neverland and all the other docos are pretty recent, so I just don't get it. It appears it is very polarising if there are those of us who think the fact there is even a film is abhorrent - to those actually taking their children and defending MJ. Im curious about that.

Agree I’m aghast - he was a predatory paedophile - you can still like the music but don’t give money to the legacy

the only reason his music is still played is because too many people are dependent on the money - he will never get cancelled

just look at his big man hands - he couldn’t change those - they’ve been all over little children

No interest in anything depicting that vile creature

Saville was never charged with anything either but we know he was a disgusting abuser. There were rumours many years before he died.