This Is It: The Concert the World Will Never See

Michael Jackson decided to film the rehearsals for his This Is It tour. And thank goodness for us he did. This film offers fans a rare opportunity to see the inner workings of Michael and his team as they prepare for what would have been his biggest concert experience to date. We get to see Michael candid, humble, approachable and sincere. We get to see Michael fiercely focused, dedicated, and disciplined. We get to see Michael, at age fifty, still completely at the top of his game as a dancer, singer and performer. This is how we want to remember him. This is why he affected so many. This is it.

The film opens with short interviews of the dancers that made up his live performance team; dancers picked from the thousands who auditioned. They all tell the camera how Michael influenced them to become dancers. Later in the film, as Michael is doing a solo routine to Billie Jean, the dancers watch from the audience. They shake their heads in disbelief, smiling, cheering. Michael is flawless. Most of what the young dancers know, is because of him.

As a dancer, Michael is peerless. He effortlessly blends jazz, funk, hip hop, and even tap dancing styles. He glides. He floats. He flows. Then he pops seamlessly into a line of dancers, perfectly choreographed. He never misses a cue; he never falters. He has infinitely more to remember than the other dancers who are half his age. He nails it all.

As a singer, time has left him untouched. He still has tremendous control, peppering songs with vocal runs. He can still be delicate and precise, and then switch and become bold and powerful. He can be all of these things, while spinning and sliding around the stage.

As a performer, he changed the game. Decades ago, Michael elevated the live concert experience. He changed it forever. Decades later, This Is It would be his biggest yet.

Watching the film, I was hit, every once in a while, with the reminder that he is gone. The reason I was seeing this show at an IMAX theatre rather than on a stage was because Michael is dead. This film, I think, will be a reminder for all of us, that Michael Jackson was our biggest star.