A Definitive Ranking of Every Michael Jordan Documentary | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Jessica Wood If it weren’t for the timelessness of Come Fly with Me and Michael Jordan’s Playground, Michael Jordan to the Max would be at the top of this list. This IMAX movie dedicated to the G.O.A.T. takes you through an emotional roller coaster. You’ll laugh and cry; you’ll feel pain and joy. As an added bonus—all of the basketball clips are in HD, which gives this film an extra edge over the rest. (The soundtrack is pretty awesome, too.)
Michael Jordan to the Max approaches Jordan’s career in a way the other docs don’t. The movie takes you through his last Finals appearance round-by-round while interlacing Jordan’s biography beginning with his pure love for basketball. Former coach Phil Jackson provides commentary on Jordan’s ability to finish, especially when the Bulls were facing elimination.
The heartbreaking story of the death of Jordan’s father, his transition out of basketball and entrance into baseball, elicits gut-wrenching emotion. You see rare photos of Michael and his father James, and hear the story about how Jordan used to ride to spring training, look over to the empty passenger seat and have daily “talks” with James.
Michael Jordan to the Max emphasizes the hard work Jordan put into baseball because it didn’t come as easily to him as basketball. Journalist Bob Green remembers seeing the former NBA player as the first player on the field and often the last player off. When Sports Illustrated ran a cover story that suggested Jordan was embarrassing baseball, Greene thought, “If you have children, you ought to hope against hope every day of your life that they will some day grow up to embarrass you like this.”
At the end of the movie, Jordan reminisces the last seconds of his sixth NBA title game. His career finished with a storybook ending, a 20-foot jumper that sealed the win and solidified his place as the greatest in the history of the game. Michael leaves us with one thought. In 10 or 20 years, he wants people to say that if Michael Jordan is still playing the game of basketball Michael would still dominate. That’s prophetic, Michael, because it’s been almost 20 years and we’re still saying it.