Like others, I bought my tickets as soon as they went on sale because, if I never saw another film, this is one I would not miss. I took my father with me, who didn't really care one way or another about Michael Jackson until he saw the Billie Jean performance on Motown's 25 the day it first aired. I still laugh about it, because looking at him, and knowing how he is, you would never think he ever heard a Michael Jackson song before, much less liked them.

I went into the theater overwhelmed with different emotions. I felt excitement about seeing him on film, watching as he created this vision of his, this concert tour that I now fully believe would have been the greatest anyone has ever seen. I also felt a sadness, an emptiness, because his words ring true; this really is it, the last time we'll ever see him perform. There was a finality to this film, and it really sank in as I watched it.

It starts out with interviews with the backup dancers, and the admiration and respect is written all over their faces, some even through their tears, as they speak about getting the job to dance with Michael. Throughout the film, they act as audience at times to Michael's onstage rehearsals, and the awe in their faces, the sheer amazement....it was like watching a child looking up at his idol.
The film is made up of both concert rehearsal footage with merged clips of singing and dancing, as well as clips of what went into the making of "the concerts that never got to be" and Michael's hand in the whole thing. This was obviously Michael's baby, he was the puppetmaster here. If a note or intro was wrong, if a cue wasn't timed right, Michael noticed it and he had it fixed. Everyone from Michael Bearden (musical director/keyboards), to Judith Hill (backup), to Kenny Ortega himself took note. It was amazing to watch.

Some of the more impressive parts of the film were the clips featuring the Dome Project works. In the live concerts, there was to be a giant screen behind the stage that would show 3-D film images during the performances. So, this film here shows a lot of the green screen adaptions that they made. Two impressive ones were Earth Song's, which is completely different that what we saw during the HIStory tour, and Smooth Criminal.

The Earth Song film is almost like a movie, with images that are so moving, and a forest so lush and fantastical, I kept expecting to see fairies flitting about. In the black and white Smooth Criminal, Michael is imposed into an older Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart film (Gilda, as well as In a Lonely Place). This one was really cool, but I really wished they had shown it in it's entirety. I have heard rumor that the DVD will possibly contain this, and all others, which I do hope is the case.

The showstopper would have been the Thriller video they made. Again, not in it's completion, but the snippets we get make the older Thriller zombie lineup look "uber lame" in comparison. It was real "Tim Burton-ish". To shake it up a bit, Michael finds a new way to enter the stage for this number that would make the arachnophobes out there cringe in horror.

As for the songs performed here, I don't remember any being complete (unless you count the end credit songs, which I don't) except maybe two of them. And, since this is rehearsal footage, Michael stops during most of them to correct something, or to call attention to something. And, I think it's important to note that in some of the songs, Michael skips verses, or adopts a softer tone for some of the lyrics that he would usually scream out (such as in Earth Song). As far as skipping lyrics, he knows his own songs and knows where the backups and music should be during each second of them, so maybe he didn't feel like he had to give it his all. He had it down, the others were the ones who were new to it. As far as the softness instead of the "oomph", he explained it at one point in that he "had to save his voice". I was fine with it, as a viewer, because after all, this is rehearsal footage, not a live concert.

The songs performed, either in long snippets, or just a few verses, are as follows (in no particular order because I cannot remember the order by heart)

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Jam
They Don't Care About Us
Speechless (very short snippet, and acapella)
Human Nature
Smooth Criminal
The Way You Make Me Feel
Jackson 5 Medley (I Want You Back, The Love You Save, I'll Be There)
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Thriller
Beat It
Who Is It (instrumental)
Black or White
Earth Song
Billie Jean
Man in the Mirror
This Is It (credit roll)
Heal the World (credit roll) 

As far as the songs, for me the favorites were I Just Can't Stop Loving You, and Black or White. The first because this woman (Hill)blows Siedah and Sheryl Crow out of the water, in my opinion. That, and he actually sang full voice here. Also, the song was more intimate because of the "choreography" (for lack of a better word, no dancing, but the movements they had during the song). In the other tours, Michael and Lead Woman Singer would stand a mile apart at times and sing this song to each other. Here, they are "thisclose" at almost all times. Notice who Michael is singing to at the very end of this song with the last lyric "I just can't stop loving you". That's why this one was one of my favorites.

In Black or White, Michael has (incredible) guitarist Orianthi Panagaris playing, and she ends on a high guitar rift, but even she took note to Michael.
Seeing this film gives another treat: new dances. A lot of the "classics" are there such as the Thriller dance, and the Smooth Criminal number, but Michael tweaked them all. Billie Jean, I've said it time and again, it's impossible to have a favorite performance because they are all different, and so is this one.

The thing I noticed, sort of like the elephant in the room, is that Michael was super skinny. I don't think he was so thin that if he were doing no shows, it would be call for real concern because we've seen him thin before. But, as he repeatedly said, he lost weight with every concert performance, and he's had to cancel shows and has even fell flat out (while being 20 years younger) because it was so taxing on his body. Here he was, about to do 50 concerts, and frankly, he didn't look like he had any weight he could afford to lose. It's just a very sad thing. (This Is It. But, it didn't have to be...)

Here's the kicker though............
Even though he was thin, and while being 50 years old, he still could move like Michael-freaking-Jackson. Others with speculations had me wondering if I should bring tissues or not, because I was told to expect an "old man", a "frail and sickly man", a man who would flub his dance moves and fall off of the Performer's Pedestal that everyone put him on. I will have to agree to disagree with them now. What I saw was moments where he didn't, as Latoya said, "give it his all", but at those moments, he was doing his "walk around the stage and ad lib" type of moves. I fully believe that the rehearsals are mostly for "everyone else". He's been doing these dances and songs for decades, if anyone has it down pat, it's him. But, at the times when he was doing a group dance, when the other dancers would have to follow him, to keep up with him, he did perform fully. Since these were rehearsals, he didn't have to give it everything he had at solo moments....heck, he had nothing to prove. But, I will say, that there is a lot of dancing here, and a good bit of it is new to the regular routines.

All of this footage is made up of several rehearsals spliced together. It's obvious when he starts a song wearing one set of clothes, then continues singing in another set, and finishes in another (all the same song). Some of the clothes (not concert pieces) are interesting. While I don't care for orange skinny Dior Homme's, I did like the Balmain jacket he wore.

My only real complaint is one that's unrealistic: I wish it were longer. It ran a bit fast paced, and it's a type of film that I'd have to see several times to concentrate on everything that's going on. Frankly, I mostly concentrated on Michael for this viewing. There were moments when I got a little sad and since I'm a girl, I'll just say it...yeah, I let a tear slide here and there. In the film, he talked a lot about the Earth, and the trouble she's in, about how now is the time to do something before it is too late; touching things like that. These are the types of things that always moved me about him, the things that I liked most about him.

I would say to anyone who likes his music even remotely: Go see this film. Sure, the DVD comes out soon, but this film will only be on the big screen for a limited time. I absolutely loathe putting any fraction of a dime into Sony's pockets (and hate even more to recommend others to), but, the only way to see this film (as in "THE way", i.e. the best way) is on big screen. If you like Michael Jackson, you shouldn't miss it. It's a film that shows his vision of what his "final curtain call" would have been like, and as you know, he was big into giving people "things they've never seen before", offering escapism, being a master showman. It's truly something to see.

And by the way, stay until the end, after the credits roll.................................... !
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Others You May Enjoy
Films:

Making Michael Jackson's Thriller (VHS)
Michael Jackson: Moonwalker (VHS)
Michael Jackson Video Greatest Hits HIStory
Michael Jackson Video Greatest Hits HIStory on Film II
Michael Jackson's Dangerous: The Short Films
Michael Jackson Number Ones
Michael Jackson: Live in Japan, the Bad Tour (Concert)
Michael Jackson: Live in Bucharest, the Dangerous Tour (Concert)

Music:

Michael Jackson This Is It
Michael Jackson Number Ones

Books:

The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation 
Moonwalk by Michael Jackson

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Die-hard Fans Only
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Pacing