This Is It

'This is it' covers the final days of rehearsing for the 50 date Michael Jackson show which would have taken place in London's O2 arena.

The first thing that must be said about this film is that it is a hard piece of entertainment to pigeon hole. 'This Is It' can not be labelled as a documentary. The piece of entertainment does not present a point of view or a story narrative; it is also not a film, because it does not present a story in it traditional sense. So what is 'This Is It'? In its crudest sense it is a well edited put together series of what the live DVD of TIT would ranked as extras/behind the scenes.

There is no doubting the show itself would have been an epic and amazing visual treat. There are moments in the footage of a true pop genius, and it is amazing to see how strong his voice, dancing and stage presence still was, even in rehearsals. Reports after MJs death indicated that Jackson didn't want to do the shows.

If this footage is to show anything it shows that this was not the case. Michael Jackson seems thrilled to perform and his attention to detail was amazing.
On the other hand there are also moments of watching a very fragile ex king of pop, who was struggling with his young backing dancers and the pressure of doing the shows.

Overall hardcore Michael fans will lap this up, and this is as good as it could get to show how the shows would of played out.
To be fair the live shows would have been pretty amazing.
Still this is a choppy stop and start affair of the songs; some don't even get to the end, which is ultimately unsatisfying as a whole.

Also if you watch the DVD check out the feature on the costumes that would have been worn by Michael Jackson, now they are something else.