This Is It

Michael Jackson was obviously shooting for the moon right before his death, as you can tell from these stunning bits of concert spectacle: phalanxes of computer-generated dancers, a bombshell of a blond guitarist who plays Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” solo flawlessly. But the true value of this raw rehearsal footage is its emphasis on MJ’s laserlike attention to detail, as he works his band and troupe up to speed. A firm floor manager, he probably wouldn’t have approved of this film. Yet to see him sweetly lose himself in “Human Nature” is to feel a creature of the stage finally returned home, and possibly on the cusp of redemption.