posted by souza

Michael Jackson's This Is It ~ Documentary or Mockumentary?


So we finally have made our analyse of the This Is It movie, or as we like to call it: mockumentary.

Before we proceed we'd like to say that there is nothing wrong with the movie itself. Kenny did a great job editing, no comment on that. The clips shot at Culver look awesome, I hope we will see them fully one time. Dancers, background vocals and musicians: great! Michael's voice sounds fantastic, even though he is not giving 100%.
No, it's the MJ's in action we would like to review and the lack of normal footage of him in close-up without sunglasses. We will not analyze faces, because that is impossible. Face shots are snippets, he's wearing sunglasses, the footage is too dark or it's not close enough to see clearly. It's the movements we will analyze. Also you all must have heard that there are different versions, we just watched one of them, otherwise it would be a mess.

First we have the dancers, what a drama and overacting. Particularly Shannon Holzapffel. We looked at eachother in the cinema and had to stop ourselves from laughing our asses off.
Then we hear Kenny say some things, the Lightman part and some special effects, before we start with the first song:

Wanna be startin' somethyin'

Our keyplayers:
- Red-pants
- Suit-guy

First weird thing here is that the audio is unedited, while the video is and that's not only here, but in almost the whole film. So we can say for a fact that at least 1 of the MJ's could be lipsyncing, maybe even both. The audio sounds new, but also a live recording can be lipsynced, you just have to rehearse it.
Then we have Red-pants. Who the hell is that? We both agree that this is not Michael Jackson. His movements are way off. It looks like he is not in control of his arms and legs and the dancing is far from what we are used to from MJ.
Suit-guy is a different story. His movements look way more familia. We are not 100% on it at all, because we do not see his face clearly, we do not hear him talk while looking in the camera, so he could also be a double that can move, but based on the movements, he could be Michael Jackson.


The auditions of the dancers

Well, we only see a snippet of MJ, but in our opinion, it's not him. The eyes are small and he lookes almost Asian.


Jam

Our keyplayers:
- Red-pants
- Suit-guy

Actually exactly the same as with Wanna be startin' somethyin'. Red-pants no way, Suit-guy could be him.


Drill

Our keyplayers:
- Red-pants
- Suit-guy
- Gold-pants
- Cool moof (black O2 shirt)

Chomp chomp, defa cool moof.... Oh my, here we almost pissed our pants and got banned from the cinema. WHO THE HELL IS THAT?? Well, at least it was funny. His movements are sharp though, maybe he had a dentist appointment just before that rehearsal...
The other ones? The footage is too short to comment on, so we won't.


They don't care about us

Our keyplayer:
- Suit-guy

Is this MJ? Hmmmm, we are again not sure. It also seems we see 2 different persons in the same outfit. The special effects with the army is great though.
The audio is not a live recording. We compared it with the They don't care about us/History footage of the History tour and it's exactly the same. So this is a lipsync for sure.
Another thing that is odd is that we watched two different clips of this: the one released short after June 25 by AEG and the clip from the movie, and there is a part with the guitarist that was shot from a different angle. That would be impossible, since the cameraguy claimed in an interview that everything was recorded with just 1 camera.


Human Nature

Our keyplayers:
- Red-pants
- Suit-guy
- Gold-pants
- Penguin-guy

The penguin-guy in the jacket with the pointy shoulders is not Michael Jackson, no way. His shoulders are too small, his movements are feminine and not sharp at all. We don't think you should be fooled by the 'live' audio, this can be easily recorded earlier by MJ himself and lipsynced.
Then we see Red-pants again with an even weirder penguin move, and also Suit-guy and Gold-pants. These last two look like they could be Michael Jackson, Red-pants and Penguin-guy are definately NOT Michael Jackson in our opinion.


Smooth Criminal

Our keyplayers:
- Cool moof
- Red-pants
- Gold-pants
- Smooth Criminal

The clip looks great and we both share the opinion that we see the real Michael Jackson in the clip shot at Culver. Red-pants is off again with the moves, we think we can even say the guy can't dance, or he's trying hard pretending and Cool moof just doesn't look like Michael Jackson. Smooth Criminal has great moves and Gold-pants looks ok too, so maybe that could be him? Again not sure, just going by the movements.


The way you make me feel

Our keyplayers:
- Blackie
- Red-pants
- Blue blouse

Blackie knows all his songs and records accoring to the keyboardplayer....well that should be of use if you are MJ and have to perform them on 50 gigs...weird thing to say. We think the guy meant that this double did his homework, 'cause it ain't Michael Jackson.
And then again Red-pants... That 'guy' is so off! He flies over the stage like a guy fairy. No way this is Michael Jackson, looks more like a woman to us.
Blue blouse is manly and has broad shoulders and the movements look familiar. This one is on our doubt-list.


Jackson 5 Medley

Our keyplayer:
- Blue blouse

It seems live, and Blue blouse is on our doubt-list, so this could be Michael Jackson. What we do think is weird, is that he looks insecure and not used to the in-ear. He has been on stage his whole life, did he never wear one? Movements familiar, so Blue blouse is still on the doubt-list.


Shake your body

Our keyplayers:
- The dancers

It is obvious that they are promoting new talent. The dancers are awesome and this clip shows it. I bet they will be booked like crazy.


I just can't stop loving you

Our keyplayer:
- Penguin-guy

To us this was more like I just can't stop laughing at you. No way that was Michael Jackson, we even dare to say: no way that's a guy! He is not sexy AT ALL, and I think Judith's face at the end says it all. How can people even think this is MJ? We almost pissed our pants again and the 'true fans' in the cinema really wanted to kill us at that point.


Thriller

Our keyplayers:
- Red-shirt
- Ed Hardey-pants

New clip looks fantastic, but 3D at a concert? Wanna give them all 3D-glasses? And what about the people in the back?
Red-shirt doesn't even dance, so no comment on him, except that we don't think he's Michael Jackson, Ed Hardey-pants has the moves and is absolutely on our doubt-list.


Beat It

Our keyplayers:
- Lift-guy
- Red-shirt
- Silver Jacket

Lift-guy could be MJ, we have no reason to expect he is not, so on our doubt-list. Red-shirt has the moves, but we are not sure about him. Why the glasses? Something to hide Red-shirt? At least the guy can dance. Silver Jacket is on our doubt-list, he could be MJ and this is absolutely not the same guy as Red-pants, who also wears that silver jacket. But again, not sure.


Black or White

Our keyplayers:
- 2 Jackets
- White blouse

2 Jackets seems to be singing live and gives us the MJ-vibe, so definately on the doubt-list! The guy in the white blouse? Not even near the doubt list.
Good to see that also the guitarists get their moment, great musicians, great performance.


Earth Song

Our keyplayer:
- Ed Hardey-pants

Michael's way of making us all aware of our planet again, good clip, adorable girl. Ed Hardey-pants was already on our doubt-list, and absolutely holds this position.


Billie Jean

Our keyplayer:
- Blue O2-blouse

Well, he can move, but that is not Michael Jackson. A lot of movements are off and WTF is with the sunglasses. They are obviously bothering him, so why not just take them off? And Billie Jean without a moonwalk is no Billie Jean. Sorry man, nice try, but we don't buy it.


Man in the Mirror

Our keyplayer:
- Blue O2-blouse

Blue O2-blouse couldn't make our doubt-list with Billie Jean, and he doesn't make it with this performance either. Does he have a stick in his butt? He bearly moves...


This Is It - Credits

In the credits of the movie, the song I Hadn't Anyone Till You, written by Ray Noble and performed by Hedda Brooks, is mentioned. This is performed in the movie 'In a lonely place' that is also mentioned in the credits, and of which we see a snippet in the Smooth Criminal clip. We both don't remember hearing this song in the film, but the lyrics are interesting:

I hadn't anyone till you
I was a lonely one till you
I used to lie awake and wonder if there could be,
A someone in the wide world just made for me
Now I see I had to save my love for you
I never gave my love till you
And thru my lonely heart demanding it
Cupid took a hand in it
I hadn't anyone till you.

The song This Is It is listed as "written and performed by Michael Jackson". The song was released on October 12, and on the very same day TMZ reports:
"Paul Anka says the special administrators of Michael Jackson's estate gave him a 50% cut of "This Is It" ... after he said Michael "stole" the original recordings from his studio back in the 80s."
Various media sourses mentioned the movie wasn't even finished days before it went into premiere, so why wasn't Paul Anka added to the credits of the This Is It song?

Why is The Michael Jackson Company mentioned? If you call them, the phone is answered by MJJ Kingdom.

Dead Reckoning, His Girl Friday, Suddenly, Last Summer, Tokyo John, and The Whole Town Is Talking are mentioned, all movies to our best knowledge, but we didn't recognize them, or we simply didn't see them.


After the credits

Our keyplayer:
- Penguin-guy

Final words:

Let's just wait right there, and have a break there. Let me breath in my own time when/and I come back then. I'm gonna button my shirt, my jacket, I look around, play with them. Snap my fingers and BANG!

Let us say that that's another confirmation that Michael Jackson is alive and kicking, and that he has a great sense of humor.


So have we seen Michael himself in this mockumentary? We really don't have a clue. Some are on the doubt-list, but we are absolutely not 100% sure. We think that they should rename the film, because in our honest opinion, because so few people notice that there are so many different MJ's in this movie, a better title would have been:

This Is It, Michael Jackson's Big Optical Illusion