Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (1988) (Michael Jackson - Videos)

Member Name: shalimar

Product:	Michael Jackson - Videos
Date:	01/04/01 (1689 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dangerously cool. Choreography.

Disadvantages: Laughable special effects

I’m not really sure if this videos section is about Michael’s compilation videos, just his music videos in general or certain Michael Jackson music videos. Anyway it was a strange thing to see on Dooyoo, especially since I don’t know of any other artists who have a videos section (if there is let me know!). Anyhow I’d just like to write an opinion on what I think is one his best music videos, and along with others, I still regard it today as one of the best music videos ever made. Smooth Criminal. It also brings back bad memories of the 80’s!

Michael Jackson had already established himself as a major pop artist and his earlier videos, such as Billie Jean, Thriller and Beat It, are also seen as landmark music videos. Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal was one of the biggest singles that was released from his album, "Bad" and reached number 1 in the UK. The video itself is a part of his fantasy film Moonwalker and as awful as that was this video was the best thing about it!

The song Smooth Criminal tells the story of a character named Annie and how a smooth criminal strikes her down. The video is a smart, stylish fantasy and is exceptional due to its over the top choreography. The basic story is that Michael Jackson enters a smoky 30s-style warehouse nightclub. He is there to meet three of his friends. These friends being three children - Brandon Adams, Sean Lennon, Kellie Parker - who are also seen in the video. He leaves the club though after a criminal and his henchmen surround the club and kidnap one of the children, the end result being a small shootout!

The beginning is quite interesting. It opens with Michael changing from a car to a human (!?) and he then enters the club (known as Club 30's). There's a clever shot here when we manage to see the inside of the club just as the door closes. When the scene changes to the inside of the club everything is silent and everyone inside
the club looks upon Michael as some kind of stranger. There’s a nice effect where he takes a coin and flips causing it to fly all the way over to a jukebox at the back of the club. The camera follows the coin until it goes in the box. We hear it slide in and then the music begins to play!

The club has this nice warm glow about it due to the use of lighting used. Also as the camera follows Michael around the club lighting is used again to help viewers keep their eyes on Michael. Unusually a spotlight appears from nowhere in some scenes when he's dancing on the spot and helps you focus on him more.

Now the special effects in those days were not bad, but looking at them today they don't look very amazing either! There's a scene where Michael's character shoots a gangster and you see him fly through a wall and his body outline appears. It looks like some kind of cartoon animation was used. It might have looked good in the 80's but these days people are more likely to laugh at this kind of thing! I guess that’s the 80’s for you! One great effect though is when Michael and 4 other dancers pull off an unbelievable 45-degree lean seen towards the end of the video. This was a much-imitated move in the school playground that resulted obvious fallings! Unfortunately no one knows how this lean was actually achieved.

There's a breakdown scene in the middle, which is a long pause where the lights go off, the music stops and everyone gathers around Michael. It's a very odd and unusual scene, especially since I feel that it interrupts the whole flow of the video. We're left with a dark cold blue look where you can just barely make out what's going on. There's also the noise of the dancers screaming and groaning. The reason this scene is here is that Michael wanted the feeling to build and build until everyone's voice reaches a climax. So it creates a sense of tension and builds up to th
e chorus.

The choreography is what makes this video stand out amongst the rest and is something that I’ve never seen done better in any other music video. The only other videos that would come close are “Michael Jackson’s – Thriller” and “Daft Punk’s – Around the World”. It just looks impressive how it’s all done, especially with each actor/dancer looking very stylish due to the smart suits, ties and lavish dresses and the fact that each person is there for a reason and having a part to play. Just look around and you’ll find they’re all doing something. Even distant people in background who you can barely see are motivating to the music. You can be sure that there were plenty of rehearsals for this!

When first watching it I could hardly make out what Michael Jackson was singing about. It was just the incredibly cool look of the whole thing that stuck out the most and it was just a wonder to watch! Even today it still retains its cool!


A few points of interest:
·Michael is known for always wearing white socks with black shoes and this is evident in the video.
·During the video one of the children comments on Michael's dancing and says, "I taught him everything he knows". This is most likely true since Michael said in an interview and in his book Moonwalk that he learnt most of his dance moves from children.
·The director of the video, Colin Chilvers, didn't direct anything after Moonwalker but his other works include being the special effects co-ordinator for Bride of Chucky and X-Men.

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