A Man in Full

This is It, the revelatory documentary chronicling Michael
Jackson’s rehearsals and preparation for his fifty sold-out
concerts in London proves to be both epic and melancholy. It is
clear that “This is It” was built to be both an homage to and a
recreation of Jackson’s extraordinary forty year career.

The homages include a heartfelt Jackson Five medley and the
recreations include a state of the art reimaging of Jackson’s
epic “Thriller” video. It is fascinating to see how much Jackson
had blossomed. The coltish, skittish man-child of John Landis’
“Thriller” documentary – who appeared both excited and
confused by simple proximity to improbably cute Ola Ray -
has grown into a man, baby. He employs a sure firm “man hand”
in his pas de deux with the sultry young lady with whom he re-
creates his “The Way You Make Me Feel” video. Further, his
man-ish air guitar duet with the young female guitar shero
during the fiery Slash guitar rift from the “Black and White”
video is literally Prince-esque.

This is just one of the many “who knew?” moments to be
gleamed from Kenny Ortega’s valedictory documentary. No-
where evident is the frail, sickly Michael we had been sold by the
“hater” media. This Michael, at the age of fifty, lean, tall and rock
star-ish, out dancing hoofers more than half his age, on a stage
and screen bigger than life, is a protean figure: the once and
future King of Pop; and his Majesty doesn’t do anything by half
measures. It is mesmerizing to witness the spectacle that should
have been.

~rave!