Michael Review: Jaafar Jackson in a Biopic That Splits Critics and Fans

Is Michael worth seeing?

Depends what you want — as a fan event, yes; as definitive biography, no. Michael arrived April 24 with a stark split: 55% Tomatometer, 88% Popcornmeter, Metascore 48, Letterboxd 2.9, IMDb 7.5. Antoine Fuqua directs; Jaafar Jackson — the pop icon’s nephew — plays the title role across Gary, Indiana origins, Jackson 5 ascent, and solo superstardom. Nia Long, Colman Domingo, and Miles Teller fill out an ensemble that treats fame as both gift and cage.

What does the film get right?

The performance sequences pop — Fuqua knows how to shoot movement, and Jackson’s creative genius reads clearly even when psychology does not. At 140 minutes, the film has room for concert euphoria; it lacks room for the hardest legacy questions, which is both commercial strategy and critical liability. IMDb midyear trending reflects fan devotion more than Tomatometer discipline.

Where it sits on the 2026 chart

Michael is the year’s textbook critic–audience divide — stack it against unanimous winners on /best/2026/ like Project Hail Mary or divisive event cinema like Dhurandhar. Compare splits: /compare/michael-2026/vs/dhurandhar-the-revenge/ — two countries, two forms of maximalism. For prestige drama done with tighter control, see Sarah Chen on Blue Heron.

Verdict

I cannot call Michael a masterpiece — the verdict field says mixed for a reason — but ignoring it misreads 2026 audience behavior. See it if the subject matters to you; skip if you need biopics that interrogate rather than celebrate. The film belongs in midyear roundups as data, not just art.