Michael Jordan To The Max

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One of the soccer greats, Pele; the greatest cricket player alive, Sachin Tendulkar; the greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan; all have one thing in common: They are the greatest players of their generation, and there is a good reason for that. I think it is even fair to say that they are the greatest in sports history. Their careers have spanned decades, and they have stood the test of time with their unflinching dedication, superb fitness, and unmatched gifted skills. Until his retirement, Michael Jordan was always a class act. He became an iconic sports figure, a role model for kids, and eventually ended up on the front covers of “Sports Illustrated” and many other magazines. His professional career lasted twenty years, with the majority of his time playing for the Chicago Bulls and then in the later part of his career playing for the Washington Wizards.

"Michael Jordan to the MAX" is a documentary on Jordan. It presents a number of interviews with the Chicago Bulls coach, Phil Jackson (1989-1998), a former Chicago Bulls player, Steve Kerr, who played alongside Michael Jordan during the NBA Championships, and many others directly linked to the game. Jordan and Kerr were both part of the NBA Champions in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Stats aside, the documentary at least tries to give us a picture of Jordan's career, although it feels too short in trying to cover Jordan's eventful twenty-year career.

Jackson first talks about Jordan's back spasm. He uses this as an example to demonstrate that in spite of the physical suffering, Jordan always prevailed with his tough mind-set and supreme physical fitness. He then talks about Jordan's attitude, competitiveness, dedication, and temperament, and how he would prepare himself for the big games. Jordan discusses the influence of Jackson on the team, and credits him for continuously pushing the envelope. Jordan believes while other coaches would solely focus on the game, Jackson took the coaching effort to a different dimension. Jackson brought in a nice blend of psychological empowerment to the training sessions, in which players were asked to think about the stress that games bring in relation to the overall satisfaction achieved at the end of the game. Jackson's soul-searching drills were instrumental in elevating the Chicago Bulls to stardom.

During his stint with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan was known as the best defensive player in the game. Through the interviews, we learn that was not the case early on in his career. Jordon identified this weakness of his, and with the help of his teammates and the coach, he methodically worked to overcome it. Further, he believed that in order to succeed, one has to focus on the failures first. Part of his astounding success is attributed to his continuous learning process and the improvements shown at each step in the process. Jordan reflects deeply when he is asked about what he sees in the audience, to which he responds saying: “I see the father-son relationship.”  Perhaps Jordan’s statement directly reflects on the fatherly moments with his kids. I liked how the director uses the basketball court as a metaphor to provide insights on Jordan’s personal life. Along the way, Jackson remembers the crucial moments of the NBA Championship finals with the Jazz, in which the Chicago Bulls were the underdogs. In the entire series, the fortunes swung widely for both the teams. Despite lacking the swiftness and fitness of the Jazz, Jordan and his team still managed to score unbelievable points in the series. The short segments from the games act as a showcase to display Jordan’s immense talent under pressure.

On the whole, “Michael Jordan to the MAX” is an interesting short documentary developed specifically for the IMAX experience. It shows us the qualities that made Michael Jordan a living legend in the world of basketball.  Determination, the right temperament, physical fitness, and extreme dedication are a few things that come to mind after watching his performances on the court. The documentary features candid interviews from renowned sports personalities, and they provide an interesting perspective on Jordan. But running for only forty-five minutes, the film feels truncated in its effort to document Jordan’s sports life. There is definitely some good stuff here, but the shortened length makes the documentary feel more like a promotional clip on Jordan.

Video:
The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, using an MPEG-4/AVC codec. The opening shot exhibits a fair amount of grain, but it smoothes out after a while. Shot mostly with fast-motion cameras, the 1080p transfer looks good, really fluid, considering the number of rapid action sequences in the film. The colors are vivid and solid, and the flesh tones are realistic. The detail is sharp and consistent. Overall, I am pleased with this transfer.

Audio:
As expected on Blu-ray, we get a lossless 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. The movie is largely a dialog-driven affair, with clear dialogue throughout. The track comes to life during the games, and we can hear the audiences cheering with a remarkable clarity. During the drills, the soundtrack perfectly captures the sound with its arena-like representation. In the end, this track works really well.

Extras:
First, we get an audio commentary track with the filmmakers. The group talks about how the idea came about for this documentary, the reasons for picking Michael Jordan for the IMAX treatment, and the techniques involved in shooting various scenes.

Up next, we get a technical behind-the-scenes featurette in which the filmmakers talk about the opening segment, the visual effects used, and the idea of using rapid-moving images and audio for IMAX. This is an insightful bonus feature.

Next, there is a two-minute featurette showing Jordan’s opening jump sequence from different camera angles.

Also included are trailers for the film and a text segment on Jordan’s stats.

Parting Thoughts:
Michael Jordan is the most recognizable sports personality in the world. The documentary offers a glimpse of him, although it runs too short. Considering that the documentary was mainly geared toward a young audience, the short running time is somewhat justified. I surely learned something about Jordan after watching the film and wanted to learn even more about him. This Blu-ray edition is a great-looking package with insightful extras.

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