This is It

Saw the Michael Jackson movie two weeks ago. Wanted to catch that sucka while it was still in the theaters as I may have missed it otherwise. The question had long loomed in my head, assuming he hadn't died, was MJ physically able to make a comeback, and if so, would it really have been all that? And also, how ridiculous was the set to be?

The flick was entertaining. Hard to call it a complete movie as it really seemed to be the content for an additional disc that would have accompanied live concert footage. Started with the dancers auditioning, the moved on to a lot of rehearsal footage. Here, MJ showed that he was in fact in good shape, moving around like the liquid alien he was. Just trying out ideas it seemed at times, it still looked very complete and would have looked very impressive in the live setting.

For each song, they played one complete musical take and then synced up multiple video takes - sometimes side by side, sometimes part by part (a verse here, a chorus there). Also had some interesting behind the scenes stuff, such as dancers working with trainers, MJ checking out the set, trying out the pyrotechnics, filming the new videos. Perhaps the most interesting was seeing MJ working with the band, working out a very down tempo, dreamlike version of the intro to The Way You Make Me Feel, which may have been the moment that I made me think, shit, this guy's a genius (and an alien!).

The band was huge - two of everything, one on each side of the stage. The hot blond guitarist Orianthi Panagaris completely shredded through the Van Halen solo in Beat It, and there's a scene later on where MJ was all, "This is where you shine. Shine for me".

Set was huge, of course. There were cherry pickers, holes in the floor that could shoot people up, a huge video backdrop that would have featured an all-3D extra for Thriller, explosions, fireworks, a bulldozer, and god knows what else. Hardly transportable, hence keeping the shows in London. They didn't really go into the specifics of the set, but it was easy to get the gist of it all from the movie.

And that's it, this was it. What could have been a comeback of a lifetime turned into an abrupt career end and a huge financial burden for anyone invested - I'm sure any figure there is MJ sized, astronomically (hey, he was an alien after all!)