"This is It" a muddled final hurrah for the King of Pop

The untimely death of Michael Jackson in June left his fans in a state of shock and caused a media frenzy that has ceased to die down. It can only be exacerbated by the release of Michael Jackson's This Is It, a documentary feature which cobbles together rehearsal footage of MJ, who had planned a worldwide concert tour set to begin only days after his death. As the opening credit says on the film, this is "for the fans," and director Kenny Ortega takes this footage and pieces it together in a way that gives those fans a sense of what MJ's ultimate comeback concert would have been like.

The concert would have undoubtedly been everything a Michael Jackson fan could have hoped for; complex intros and newly filmed footage for each song would have given way to Jackson and his dancers performing at the top of their game. This includes a Humphrey Bogart mix-up, with MJ as an intro to "Smooth Criminal" and a revisionist zombie routine to lead into "Thriller." Not only is there footage of what these videos would have looked like, but also intimate scenes with MJ orchestrating and choreographing the routines. He was undoubtedly a perfectionist, with a specified sense of how each number should be performed, sung and staged.

This is It is comparable to last year's The Dark Knight, in that it a the final endeavor of a troubled artist. In the case of The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger's menacing performance as The Joker became the epitaph of his method acting persona. It was a worthy denouement for such a talented young actor. The same cannot quite be said for This Is It, mainly because of director Kenny Ortega. While the footage of MJ honing his craft through both dance and song is mesmerizing, Ortega does little to make a narrative film, and the end result feels more like a cynical ploy to wring big bucks out of the King of Pop's death. The Dark Knight wasn't exploitative, because it was completed before Ledger's death. Ortega quickly whipped This is It into shape, and it's hard not to be suspicious of the intention when the final product is so lackadaisically composed.

For fans of Michael Jackson, the lack of any coherent narrative will likely be overlooked because of the insight granted. Yet the more demanding fan will wish Ortega took as much pride in his work as MJ clearly took in his. If Ortega had attempted to make an actual film, This is It could have lived up to its title. As is, it's an uneven two hours that grows repetitive and ultimately dull. To say this one is "for fans only" would assume that MJ's fans don't demand quality filmmaking to accompany such a beloved icon.