Stars: Michael Jackson, Joe Pesci, Sean LennonBudget: $22 million
Directed by: Various
Ah childhood memories of this were so blurred until I recently re-watched it. And yes i genuinely believe it belongs in the horror genre.
No it's not particularly scary but there are genuine odd and confusing moments in here that made me uncomfortable.
Both as a child and as an adult.
So this film, if you can call it a film and not just a massive ego trip of a music video then we shall continue. Some would call it an anthology too. I do not, anthology to me is like body bags or creep show (anthology horror films are some of my favourite)
This film is cut up into many different parts weakly linked together with transitions. The first segment is 'the man in the mirror' a performance from his BAD tour. This would be fine if it wasn't interspersed by people like martin Luther king, mahatma Gandhi, Jesus and other icon figures. Is Michael trying to compare himself to these icons?
Does he think he can make a change or become as big and famous as they are/were?
It's a big ask even though he was a massive star of the times, hell I LOVED Michael, i still do despite accusations. This man innovated music and the times with his life, to a saintly degree though?
I think that's asking a lot from anyone even some of the other figures mentioned. This disturbed me as an adult now i understand it more.
We then get a musical montage of his life through the times in strange Monty pythonesque cartoons from the Jackson five to the BAD album. It's strange to say the least. One of the disturbing sequences i found as a kid with all the changes.
We then get another segment where the song BAD is performed by child actors portraying each of the characters from the original music video. I find this funny and one of the few decent parts of the actual film, some don't like it I do.
The young people walk off then transition through some steam or smoke and poof they are older now, Michael is seen and recognized by strange claymation puppets. These freaked me the hell out when i was a kid, the whole face morphing stuff with the fans was freaky. They chase Michael around for ages until he come across a rabbit disguise, I have come to know this rabbit is called spike now.
He escapes to another music video speed demon this time, with morphing hijinks to dodge various dangers along the ride. He thinks he's escaped the rabble out in the desert and removes the Spike costume. It miraculously comes to life and they have a dance off.
Michael is then told off by a police officer who points out a sign that there's 'no dancing' here, he's given a ticket and Spike has vanished, only to morph out of a rock and wink at him later.
Aside from the freaky fans I like the Spike bits they are fun and have a certain, to me at least panache to them.
We then get another music video segment for leave em alone. His music video backlash to all the media attention he receives. from his friendships to his pets to pretty much how he even sleeps at night. I liked this segment it portrays how some people will blow out of proportion any little bit of info they can get on someone famous. Now don't get me wrong Michael certainly deserved a lot of the shit he got, I mean he did indeed get a lot of crazy later on in his life but i think this is just him being a child like man who took a lot of bad or stupid advice.
So we come to the creme ala creme of the film. The smooth criminal part, this is quiet the most movie part of the movie. We see three kids spying on Michael who is suddenly beset upon by typical bad guys who can't fire straight. We see that an undetermined time earlier Mike is playing with the kids when their dog vanishes into some woods. They look for him and stumble into Joe Pesci, playing himself, no 'Mr big' Who intends to supply the worlds kids with drugs. (i'm not scared of spiders but the globe full of tarantulas made me jump as a kid) They are found and chased by his thugs after the girls makes some noise.
He runs, and runs and runs and runs. Then turns into a car and goes to a club he asked the kids to meet him at. He hides out in a club which was previously empty in the kids scene. Flicking a coin into the jukebox from across the bar he breaks out into Smooth Criminal. One of the coolest dance sequences I have ever seen back as a kid and even today in a lot of respects happens with some awesome dancing.v(apart from a weird bit in the middle)
Mr Big's goons surround the club and Michael whips out a Tommy gun shooting them through the windows. The girl is captured and Michael follows them back to Big's lair. Katie manages to get free while some people wail on Michael, then a magic star flies past them.
This is the next bit that freaked me as a kid, Michael removes his hands from his face and it turns scarily metallic and opens up in a freakish way. he turns into a giant robot and kills all of Big's men, he then turns into a big spaceship and flies by the kids.
Big who has now mounted a giant laser cannon gets a shot off at Michael damaging him. Michael then powers up a mega beam and kills Big. The kids say he going now and Mike does just fly off, with tear in their eyes.
Strangely they make or had made a special wishing star, and poof Michael is back despite the tears etc of the earlier scene. The kids are reunited with the dog and Michael goes on to do another concert.
So this film hey? It's not good not at all but does offer some very deep innovations which has left resounding and lasting impact on both the film and music video world. It's good in a way that Marmite is some like it some hate it. Personally i hate it, which is to say I don't hate the film I just see it as a mishmash of strange things that come, nay are forced together into some kind of semblance of a story-line your trying to follow.
For that i'm giving the film a 2 stars out of 5, I would say watch it at least once just to see the spectacle that was Michael Jackson, perhaps this is the way he saw the world, perhaps not we'll never know and just get stuck with hear'say.
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