The first reactions have been released for Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew. Many of the reactions praise Jaafar Jackson’s lead performance, but criticize the film for being a fairly conventional music biopic.

Here’s one reaction from Daniel Howat:

“Jaafar Jackson is tremendous in MICHAEL, truly making you forget he isn’t the real thing. An off-the-charts performance.

The rest of the movie is about as generic as you can get. Fans will love the musical performances, but there’s sadly no humanity behind them.”

Another from Edward Douglas:

“I usually enjoy a good music biopic but Michael is so boring and one-note, maybe because we already know MJ’s story and this is pretty much the Colman Domingo show… for the diehard fans only.”

Here’s another from X user: The HoloFiles – Movie/TV News & Reviews:

That said, the film has also received a fair share of rave reactions. “From start to finish, the new @michaelmovie is so good!”, Kelsey Nicole Nelson‘s reaction. “10/10 learned something new about the king of pop. Such a fun night with my WABJ family. #MichaelMovie.” “#MichaelMovie is the best musical biopic I’ve ever seen, and it’s fitting for arguably the greatest performer of all time,” reads X user Jones Vibes. “What separates this film is the fact that Jaafar is LITERALLY MICHAEL. It’s insane. Gorgeously shot, beautifully performed, but the music is the legacy. Bless you, Michael.”

Michael hasn’t fared well in its first reviews. The film currently holds a 34% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, given some of the early reactions, it appears the film will fare much better with audiences.

Time will tell how audiences will react to the film when it releases this Friday, April 24th.