Review: THIS IS IT

I went into this movie having absolutely no idea what to expect from it, since the trailer didn’t exactly lend too much in the way of 2 hours of film. When I walked out I was truly moved and sad, because Michael Jackson died, and I never got around to seeing him live. This movie is definitely a film for the fans, and everyone in the theater proved that with all of the claps after each song.

The movie is basically a concert film with a bunch of behind the scenes stuff you wouldn’t normally see. It starts off with the dancers talking about how its always been their dream to work with Michael Jackson. These scenes are sort of tough to get through, as most of them are pretty emotional and tear up throughout the interviews.

From here we see them going through different stages of each song during the production. It usually starts off with MJ working on some dance steps for the songs, and, as it goes on, progresses into almost a full fledged music video for it. You see Michael in different stages of development in each part of the show which is pretty amazing. Knowing that he is responsible for so much of his success over the years and it wasn’t just someone behind the scenes pulling his strings.

The whole thing runs about 2 hours, and its a culmination of hundreds of hours of film from early rehearsals. You see MJ do everything from choreographing his dance moves, the dancers moves, lend a hand in the direction of videos that would have been displayed behind them, and work with the musicians to get all of the music to perfection.

I really wish they had filmed more of the rehearsals, because, after watching the film, you really want to know how it all would have gone down if they had gotten to put these shows on. It’s a tragedy that we will never get to see the King of Pop on the big stage doing what he obviously was born to do.

You really start to feel as one with the huge crew, but I personally fell in love with the lead guitarist Orianthi Panagaris. She is absolutely amazing at guitar and is very easy on the eyes, as well. By the end of the film I turned to Jeremy and told him that I had to find her, and marry this woman!

You walk away knowing that Michael Jackson is and always will be one of the greatest performers to ever grace a stage. You will also know that he had a kind and caring heart. The video footage that is shown in the movie was never meant to be anything more than footage for his personal library, but due to his death they thought it should be released to the masses. Think whatever you want about him personally but when you see this film you will walk away in tears, jump into your car and put your favorite MJ song on. I dont care what you have going on in the next two weeks, if you miss seeing this on the big screen you will truly hate yourself, and I will also hate you too.