The official trailer for “Michael” debuted on Feb. 2 and it did not slide into the conversation quietly.
Every single Michael Jackson fan “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” that includes dancing in the streets, putting on a “Thriller” for the whole world to see.
The casting feels perfect, and the trailer makes it hard to “Beat It” from the conversation.
Michael’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, plays the king of pop, and let me just say he is Michael Jackson. I mean, whoever the makeup artists are for this movie should get a standing ovation because they have no business making anyone look that close to the man himself.
Like it couldn’t get any better, they cast Colman Domingo as Michael’s father, Joe Jackson and Nia Long as Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson.
The trailer leans into the family tension, especially the relationship between Michael and Joe.
A line that really gave me “Butterflies” was when Joe answered a moment of independence with, “I told you what to think.”
That one sentence left me in a “State of Shock” because I really hope we get more of his family life addressed in this movie. Jackson’s story has been corrupted by his father’s influence, making his fame feel “Dangerous.” I want the portrayal to read more like a genuine biography than a polished tribute.
I also love that the trailer hints at the machinery behind the scenes. Miles Teller plays Jackson’s lawyer, John Branca and Laura Harrier plays Suzanne de Passe, who, at the time, was the President of Motown Productions and played a major role in getting the Jackson 5 started.
“Can You Feel It?”
The movie hits you with even more history from Jackson’s Motown days. Diana Ross shows up in the cast, played by Kat Graham and Berry Gordy shows up too, played by Larenz Tate.
Quincy Jones also sits in the lineup, played by Kendrick Sampson, and that kind of casting can turn a biopic from cool to credible. Quincy is the bridge to the era where Jackson went “Bad” then built the kind of dominance that made “Thriller” feel less like an album and more like a cultural event.
When the film places those relationships as a “Man in the Mirror,” the story stops being “Michael vs. the world” and becomes “Michael’s system that made him bigger, faster and lonelier.”
The best part is that the scenes look so real and show that “Workin’ All Day and Night” can produce this masterpiece in the making.
That is why the movie feels like “Human Nature.” It wants the audience to understand why those moments hit so hard in the first place, and as a fan, I want those moments to feel “Off the Wall” electric, like a “Smooth Criminal” sliding across the floor.
Jackson did not build greatness by accident, and the trailer illustrates the creative obsession that even someone as detail-oriented as Jackson would approve of.
When the movie comes out on April 24, you’ve “Got to Be There.” A story this famous carries real weight, and the film has already drawn attention for the amount of material it has and for how carefully the studio has shaped it.
Even the rollout plays like an event. The film is set for an international premiere in Berlin on April 10, right before the theatrical release, and the studio is pushing the movie as a full-scale moment, including IMAX. Jackson never did small, and the movie shouldn’t either.
I keep coming back to how, “The Way You Make Me Feel” about this movie is already set for such a high standard that any less may be super disappointing.
If you want me and millions of Jackson fans to “Remember the Time” we saw this biopic, it should make us “Scream” in excitement, so we “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough.”
The trailer hints at a story about talent, control, ambition and the cost of being the center of attention.
If the final film strikes the right balance, it would feel like an invitation to “Enjoy Yourself,” knowing the best performers make it seem effortless, while secretly bearing the weight of expectations that are “Black or White.”
By the time “Michael” reaches theaters on April 24, I expect the online noise to get loud, fast. I just want the movie to keep its own rhythm, tell the story with enough honesty to hold up after the first wave of hype.
The trailer already promises that “I’ll Be There” in a front-row seat.
The only question now is, “Will You Be There?”
