I didn't see This Is It theatrically. Watching it from my couch, I found it to be as surreal as watching him die on Twitter feeds and blogs all over again. Was I seeing drugged-up exhaustion, or the stresses of returning to live performance after years and years out of practice? Was he having trouble keeping conscious, or was he not used to the new gadgets and earpieces used?
As a kid, I loved Michael Jackson's music, partly because it was catchy, and partly because my mother hated it. The bizarre re-shaping of his face, the mystery of his children's genetic source code, and the continued molestation allegations don't change who he was before all of that. To me, Jackson was the person who opened a suburban kid's eyes to environmentalist activism and the realities of the third world. He introduced me to zombies with Thriller. Of course, his life after that horrifies and appalls me.
There are tons of screwed up celebrities out there that inspired people at some point or another before their particular perversions went public. Jackson was the most famous of them all, and the fallout and mutation of his tainted legend was truly mythic in scope. I still find myself wondering whether the whole Jackson family saga actually happened or if I just saw it on TV.
After watching This Is It and the extras, I'm absolutely shocked that the planned show didn't go on as staged and rehearsed with guest stars filling in for Jackson. Nothing was going to truly replace him, but the celebration of themes and artistry that Kenny Ortega and Jackson put together would still have worked. The 40-minute Staging the Return doc floored me with one thing in particular: the jumbo screen they had rigged was a 100'x30' LED display that was capable of producing enough light that for the first time, a stadium audience would be able to see polarized 3D in a live concert setting.
The extras on the Blu-ray are more insightful than the movie, really. The movie is culled entirely from pre-death footage, whereas the extras are almost entirely from the post-death perspective. The "Thriller 3D" and "Smooth Criminal" vignettes are exclusive to the Blu-ray along with the Making "Smooth Criminal" featurette. The below extras can also be found on the DVD.
The Gloved One [15:13] covers the full line of costumes that were designed (in some cases invented) for the tour. Particularly impressive was the LED-lit suit for "Billie Jean", which you have to see in motion to believe. Memories of Michael [16:19] is just a series of people who were involved with different stages of the tour relating anecdotes. It's lean, with no superfluous filler. Auditions: Searching for the World's Best Dancers [9:50] is roughly 1000 times more efficient at audition processes than over 20 hours of a reality TV series is in a given season.
This Is It hit the street last week (26 Jan) from Sony. Amazon has the Blu for $23.99 and the DVD for $15.99.