Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ is almost perfect

By Zack McGhee | Thursday, October 29, 2009, 11:11 AM

If I could make four changes to Michael Jackson’s This Is It, it would become perfect:

• Remove opening studio credits
• Restore slow motion final frames to normal speed
• Remove closing MJ “Love lives forever” graphic and just end on a still frame of the man himself on stage
• Remove cheezy, post-credits “Heal the World” graphic

Director Kenny Ortega and Sony Pictures strive with every edit to give us the closest thing to a final product, but it is the raw, incomplete nature of this footage that makes it so powerful. Watching Michael Jackson’s creative process unfold is the great value of this documentary.

His collaboration with Ortega and the musicians, dancers and technicians begins with many of them speaking directly to camera, talking about why they are there, and how Michael Jackson inspired them to do what they do. Most of them are on the verge of tears when they try to verbalize this; some do cry.

Jackson’s talent and ability to inspire are still so powerful. To see his presence here, on stage for the last time — mild mannered but completely in control — is incredible. The most joyful moments come when he shares the stage in a duet, as in “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” or with the guitar solo in “Beat It.” He feeds off the creative energy of his partners and graciously encourages them to take “your time to shine.”

When the movie was over, a friend turned to the rest of us and said, “That would’ve been a great concert.” I think that is the goal. The movie works because it inspires that reaction. For his fans, the chief consequence of his tragic and sudden death is that there is no finished concert, there is no more music, there is no more Michael.

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