Michael Jackson Dances Up A Storm In 'This Is It'

By Scab Pimplebolye
Last updated at 9:42 AM on 28th October 2009

It's an eerie sensation watching Michael Jackson rehearsing for what would have been his last concerts at the O2. Arena.

Watching the 111 minute film assembled by director Kenny Ortega from 120 hours of footage shot during rehearsal sessions it's clear that Jackson was a consummate artist, a perfectionist and that the This Is It Concerts would have been just about the best music show of the year.

We watch Jackson go through arduous dance routines with his dancers and singers. The best moments show Jackson's tetchy side. The desire for perfection drives him.

'I'm not feeling that

Michael Jackson

Jackson snaps back, 'Well get there'. Another moment he flashes anger about preserving his voice and asks not to be forced to sing so high.

All of his artistry is on display and Ortega just manages to hold back from hailing Jackson as a saint.

Ortega shows Jackson as a hard-working hoofer and singer. At no time is there any footage of the singer looking exhausted, or wiping his brow with exhaustion.

He looks thin and there's not a scene showing him eating or having a drink of water.

There's no sense that he's in any pain or that hours after the last rehearsal he would be dead.

Perhaps there should have been some kind of disclaimer saying that the kind of routines Jackson put himself through were dangerous to his health.

Anyway, that's not what This Is It is about. It's a way of giving something back to the fans. How do I know that? Well, it's written up on the screen just after the credit sequence, 'For the fans'.

But I believe that even if you' were never a die-hard Michael Jackson fan you'll get a kick out of watching him dance up a storm. Boy, he knew how to Beat It.

There's a fabulous sequence of Jackson being interpolated, through green screen cinematography, into a footage of Rita Hayworth singing Put The Blame On Mame from the film Gilda.

This Is It

A lovely moment has Hayworth peeling off a long silk glove and throwing it to Jackson who is magically seen catching it.

Humphrey Bogart and Edward G Robinson show up too and it's a cool segment.

During the scene there's some camera movements where the camera moves from a marquee to a city landscape shot of Chicago.

Jackson and Ortega discuss a cue and Ortega asks him how he will know the shot will change. And Jackson responds, 'I will feel it'.

And it's clue that the beat zings through him from his head to his feet which glide along the stage as if he had the nimble tread of Fred Astaire.

There's a spooky minute or two when Jackson's rehearsing one number and it appears that he's wearing a black arm band on his jacket.That was a little freaky.

But it's the little moments that show Jackson quietly getting a point across that show he was human, and not just a robotic figure.

'You guys, I got to tell you this...it feels like somebody's fist is in my ear,' he tells Ortega as he complains about the decibel level of his ear piece.

I liked him sucking on a lollipop as he watched new choreography for Thriller being shot.

One of the highlights has to be him performing the crutch during Billie Jean. The attention to detail is extraordinary. It was like watching a 100 million dollar Broadway musical being put together.

Towards the end The company and crew gather in a circle and Jackson tells them that the shows at the O2 are going to be great adventure and that it's 'all escapism' where the audience would be taken on a journey to a place they've never been before.

You watch Jackson put his heart and soul into his act, into what he loved to do. But the pain behind the effort had something to do with his passing.

As The rock writer Mick Brown said, Michael Jackson, Death by Showbusiness. That side of his life, the dark side is not explored.

It's as if Jackson lived in a fantasy world and real life didn't touch. The film is a fantastic monument to Jackson but it does us a dis-service by not giving us a sense of what made him die.

As I write this I can see fans waiting outside the Odeon, Leicester Square for the 4am screening of This Is It. The first one open to the general public. They just want to see him sing and dance.

They're not at all interested in how he passed away.

Mail Stinks Online / Thanks Joy C!