Those who see Michael Jackson as only a monumentally disturbed facial surgery train wreck owe it to themselves to see "This Is It." They will discover what his fans already know: Jackson, for all his well-documented personal shortcomings, was a supremely gifted artist with enough star power to fill a constellation.
This documentary consists of footage of rehearsals for Jackson's concert series scheduled to start in London last July. Originally intended for the entertainer's private library, "This Is It" exists as a raw concert film filled with behind-the-scenes snippets revealing Jackson to be a perfectionist, albeit a highly sensitive and eccentric one.
"I want it the way I wrote it," he says during one song's rehearsal and in another scene he exhorts a musician to let the music simmer. Jackson also says "God bless you" a lot and, in one song, complains about the volume level in his earpiece, saying the excessive noise is like a fist being shoved into his ear. He later watches one rehearsal sucking on a lollipop.
The London concerts had been designed as a comeback for the 50-year-old superstar who in recent years had become more well-known for his bizarre behavior than his considerable talent. During a press conference, Jackson calls the series his final curtain call. Eerie stuff considering he would soon be dead.
Watching the film makes one believe these concerts would have been spectacular, and makes his death that more distressing. The movie dispels any notion that Jackson had lost his stride. Though rail-thin, the King of Pop shows he can still sing, dance and grab his crotch.
Ably directed by Kenny Ortega ("High School Musical 3"), the film appears like a greatest hits extravaganza, and with more than 750 million records sold and 13 number one songs during his long career, Jackson generated a surplus of hits. Particularly refreshing is the lack of talking heads in the film. The fawning praise of Jackson from the dancers and musicians gets a little annoying, but you can sense that when they say Jackson inspired them, it's not just b.s. for the man writing their paychecks. "He gave me a reason to believe in something," says one teary-eyed dancer. And this is it.
We get a brief glimpse of auditions for the dancers and some trademark Jackson moonwalking. In another scene, dancers pop onto the stage like bread out of a toaster.
