And When the Groove is Dead and Gone...

Michael Jackson needed to die in order to create a masterpiece.

Had he lived, This Is It would have been a spectacular concert, with Michael perfecting every last possible detail; however, in death he cedes artistic control to tour director Kenny Ortega, who skilfully draws back the curtain. We see a new version of Michael Jackson, where instead of product we get process.

His King of Pop crown certainly needs no defending, so it’s great to see him hard at work with a synth player perfecting the intro to “The Way You Make Me Feel”. He gently teases, pushes, and illustrates the rhythm for the musician, and we discover how he sees and feels his own classic work. If you are a musician or performer, things like this can be as or more valuable than whatever the end result is. Later on, whether trading riffs with a back up singer, or working out a solo with his lead guitar player, he puts aside his own perfection in order to help them find theirs. Like a master carpenter at work, we watch as he hones from whole wood every intricate detail of the concert.

Media reports of him being listless or unable to sing are proven false. Sometimes performing full out, sometimes marking the steps, he outdoes the dancers half his age and yet still had something to prove. You get massive puppets, gigantic spider robots, a levitating stage, 3D effects, spins, high notes, trapdoors, MJ flying through the air on a cherry picker, aerial choreography, swarovski crystals and costumes to die for…..no surprise there, spectacle is what he’s known for. Where This Is It succeeds, however, is in showing Michael at work with these elements: playfully riding the cherry picker and asking to go higher, setting light and band cues, and rehearsing music and iconic choreography until it’s flawless. The undisputed King of Pop, best-selling artist of all time, 13-time grammy winner is shown working a phrase of “Human Nature” with his vocal coach ad nauseum, but when the songs starts proper the results are impressive. By the time “Billie Jean” closes the film, we are seeing the final cold sparks of brilliant mind. This concert that will never be is laid out for us in blue-prints, and after thrilling to his output for 40 years, we finally get to observe Michael Jackson’s artistic DNA.

After so many years of dizzying highs and salacious lows, it’s easy to see MJ as a tragic figure, or modern-day Christ figure, or infallible hitmaker. In a way that no trial, live-from Neverland satellite interview, press conference, or autobiography never could, This Is It humanizes Michael Jackson. It is the film’s truly remarkable achievement: revealing genius and cementing an already gilded legacy. The man in MJ’s mirror need not fear for his kingdom.