Michael Jordan: An American Hero

Rating: 2 out of 10; 1/2 Star

Part I

This television movie ("Michael Jordan: An American Hero") is a perfect example of an idea that should have gone no further than lunch conversation.

First, I'll address the general task of making average to below-average basketball players look like great players on film. Usually, this fails miserably. Filmmakers like to employ cutaways, basketball doubles, trampolines, 8 foot rims, and the like, to try to make actors look like basketball legends, and it just doesn't come off. This is especially true of film depictions of NBA basketball. The game has a fluid look on television. There are no cutaways for dunks and shots. We see most of the action in continuous shots. Filmmakers, on the other hand, like to show an actor leap into the air or shoot the ball, then cutaway to a low shot of that actor in mid-air or a shot of the ball in the air, then cutaway to the actor throwing the ball through the basket or a shot of the ball going through the basket. All this editing magic does is bring home the reality that we are watching some actor, who is probably an average athlete at best, try to convince us that he is one of the greatest athletes of all-time (in this case, Michael Jordan). It doesn't work. However, that is not to say that films cannot convincingly portray great athletes on screen. It's just easier with most other sports. Football and hockey players play in uniforms that obscure facial details, so real players can double for actors in game scenes. Baseball is televised in the visual cutaway style often employed in film, so filmmakers can use cutaways to make up for athletic shortcomings of actors. Basketball is different. At its highest level, it is a game played by big men in three dimensions, and players do not wear masks or helmets. Audiences can tell when a 6-foot-three actor playing 6-foot-six is dunking on a 9-foot-rim doubling as a 10-foot-rim. It's a matter of scale. So the task of having actor, Michael Jace (6-foot-three)convincingly re-enact playing career moments of Michael Jordan (6-foot-six) had built in problems. As it happens, Michael Jace bears a reasonable physical resemblance to Michael Jordan, when Jace is playing the bald, late 20s, early 30s, Michael Jordan. However, Jace makes a poor late teens, early 20s, Michael Jordan, and the makeup department gives Jace an awful wig (about an inch too long) to play the younger Jordan.

As for the rest of the cast, the familiar faces are all fine actors in their own right (Ernie Hudson as James Jordan, Debbie Allen as Delores Jordan, and Robin Givens as Juanita Jordan). However, they are all completely wrong for their roles, as each bears almost no resemblance to their real-life counterparts. Albert Hall ("Apocalypse Now") would have made a much better James Jordan, JoMarie Payton ("Family Matters") would have made a much better Delores Jordan, and Cynda Williams ("One False Move", "Mo' Better Blues") would have made a much better Juanita Jordan. However, the filmmakers were more concerned with getting higher profile actors to portray Michael Jordan's close family members than with getting good actors who bore some physical resemblance to these family members. The filmmakers probably could have saved money with actors who were better choices for these roles.

As for this film's version of Michael Jordan's life, it's awful. At times, it's unclear as to what event is being depicted, at other times, it inappropriately changes key moments of events for dramatic purposes, and at other times, it's just bad. I shall address some of these problems in the order that they occurred in the film: (1) Jordan's March 1995 comeback game - in real life, it was vs. the Indiana Pacers, at Market Square Arena in Indiana; in the film, it appears to be vs. the New York Knicks in Chicago. (2) Michael Jace takes over the Jordan role as Jordan prepares to head to North Carolina for his freshman year of college; Jace looks at least 10 years older, at this point in the story, than the actor who portrayed Jordan in Jordan's last two years of high school. (3) Dean Smith - some chubby guy with brown hair appears to portray North Carolina's men's basketball team head coach; he looks nothing like Dean Smith; the film doesn't even mention the name "Dean Smith", probably because the filmmakers didn't bother to cast an actor who looked anything like Dean Smith; this seems a major oversight for the role of such an important figure in Jordan's basketball development. (4) Player resemblance - there is not a player depicted in this film who is portrayed by an actor who looks more than remotely like that player, except for Jace as Michael Jordan. (5) No official NBA team logos, court logos, stadium logos - kills reality.

(more later)

An over dramatized and partially fictional account of the life of his airness. This is one of those cheesy, before it's time, yarns that could've waited a few years until it was picked up by a director with the expertise and resources to sign believable and talented actors and to treat the story with the reverence and dignity that it will deserve in time.( see The Greatest). the fast food type environment in which this film is presented, complete with cheesy, fake NBA uniforms, Stadiums that look like your local high school gym, and just a general appearance of lookalikeness that borders on condescending, just adds to the tedious nature of the proceedings. I'll admit that the storyline, all the familiar Jordanesque tales, and following this "Michael" mimic the life of the real MJ, will hold your attention. But as you watch, you keep shaking your head at the overall quality and cheesiness of the whole affair. Don't fool with this one unless you're an MJ junkie, and even then, only if you can stand sports themed flicks with actors with little to no athletic skill.

In the 1960's when Michael Jordan was a young boy in the suburban middle classes throwing a basketball into a dustbin instead of a hoop and playing baseball, nobody would have suspected what he would become some thirty years later. An early experience of racism perhaps puts him off baseball but he takes up basketball with the same intensity that he approaches everything. High Schools seems him working hard to get into the main school team and from there he continues into North Carolina's starting line up. It is here that he makes his name and when he is drafted by the Chicago Bulls it is only the worries of his doting parents that cause him pause.

Like most people across the globe, I'm an admirer of not only Jordan's skills but also his drive to get what he wanted – that I had a thimbleful of that motivation. So it was natural that I would take the chance to watch this film, especially since this was the first I had seen available on television in the UK. Having read the book "Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World he Made" I like to think that I am at least a bit aware of Jordan's history if nothing else and it is a shame that this film doesn't quite have the same eye for a story and for a character that the aforementioned book did. Instead the film is like a sprint through elements of the story, never missing an opportunity to simplify or turn into melodrama anything that might have approached an interesting moment. The basic story doesn't feel anywhere near as interesting or as inspiring as it really is mainly because the film just skims through things to the point where it feels more than a "by the numbers" TV filler movie than it is a true story; in fairness that is just what it is – by-the-numbers filler stuff; the subject really deserved better.

The cheap and cheerful effect is felt mainly in the script, which allows for no real character development and no development of themes. The writers knew they had to have their Jordan be competitive, learn teamwork and other things that are well known – so these things are put in in one or two scenes and then never really run through the character as a trait in the way it should have been. Outside of this there is nothing and all the actors just feel like they are reading lines and playing whatever character is easiest to do. Some have been very harsh on Jace but, having seen him do good work with a good character on The Shield, I can't help but feel sorry for him because the script gives him nothing to work with apart from basic emotions and actions. Support is no better; Hudson just plays it affable and warm, Givens has two notes to hit and just about does them. The very low budget is shown in the actual production – nobody wanted to pay out cash to use the NBA logos and such so the strips simply have the words "Chicago Bulls" written on it and the NBA logo is just a wiggley line! The game action would have struck me as being pretty damn important but it is sorely lacking; normally we see the celebrations after a win (very poor atmosphere) but the one or two shots we see in the whole film are filmed so that we assume it goes in so that Jace doesn't have to make the shot to get the take to count! Overall this is a worthy subject but a terrible film. It is cheap, poorly written, the characters are paper-thin and the game action is so lame as to make you wonder why they bothered with it at all. There is a fascinating character piece within this story and there are plenty of books that tell it reasonably well but this film is certainly not able to do anything with it. In fairness it is no worse than all the melodramatic nonsense clogging up daytime television but the fact that we all know the real story (and know it much better than this told it) means that this is a total waste of time.

When did they make a movie about MJ? Did I miss a meeting? I'm sick and tired of Jordan. All we ever hear is how great he is. All we ever see is Ahmad Rashaad and all the other pawns sucking up to him. His career numbers don't dwarf th others in his sport, like Gretzky or Marino. Yet, so many Jordan supporters suggest he is unquestionably the best player ever. What about Bird, Magic, or Bill Russell for god's sake. All that's irrelevant. I like Michael Jace. He was awesome as conflicted Julien Lowe on "The Shield". But Any movie made about the most overhyped athlete in history was bound to be crappy. Jordan is beloved, and he is never held to his mistakes. Jordan the American hero? Ask his wife...

Rating: 2 out of 10; 1/2 Star

Part II

More problems with the film:

(6) MAJOR FUDGING OF HISTORY, 1982 NCAA Finals, UNC vs. Georgetown - In the film, Jordan hits the game winning jumper and the clock runs out. The film skips what happened in real life after Jordan hit that jumper. Jordan hit the jumper with about 16 seconds left on the clock, to put UNC up by one. Georgetown brought the ball up past half-court with about 9 seconds left on the clock, and Georgetown's Fred Brown inexplicably passed the ball to UNC's James Worthy, who raced to the other end of the court and was fouled. This sealed the game. The film pretends like it never happened, because when the film shows time run out in the game, Jordan is in the same spot where he hit his jumper, and his teammates rush to him to congratulate him. (7) No 1984 Olympics? (8) Chicago Stadium, 1984 - The film tries to get across the point that home attendance was very low for the Bulls before Jordan's arrival. It over-exaggerates. The film shows part of a game during Jordan's rookie year. There are about 200 people in the stands, and most of the people at the press table seem to be either half asleep or distracted by boredom. In reality, the Bulls averaged around 6,000 fans per game at home when Jordan first joined the team. The film strains credibility here. (9) Broxton - who is this guy? The film has some fictional hotheaded team member named Broxton confronting Jordan early in Jordan's career, grilling Jordan about not being a team player. This guy doesn't appear in any official NBA guide I've seen. (10) Chicago, 1986 - Jordan is completely bald, for reasons undisclosed; in reality, Jordan didn't actually start shaving his head bald until around 1989, after about two years of showing thinning hair in spots; Jordan inherited his father's follicles. (11) No foot injury in 1986? This seems like an important career circumstance not to skip over; Jordan missed 64 regular season games during the 1985-86 season, but came back for the playoffs to score 63 in a 1st round game vs. the Celtics. (12) The gratuitous leg shot of Robin Givens getting into a taxi - I've got no problem with this, visually; however, I'm sure Juanita Jordan might have something to say about it. (13) Chicago, 1989 - Phil Jackson becomes the Bulls' head coach, and the Bulls have a title contending team; what happened to Doug Collins? what happened to the Charles Oakley for Bill Cartwright trade? we should have at least seen some sort of transitional montage, as the team gets better with players like Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, etc; nothing about playoff frustration against the Celtics and Pistons? (14) Zen master, Phil Jackson - yeah, Phil is a philosopher and a spiritual guy, but here he's a cross between Mr. Miyagi and Yoda; I doubt Phil is that wacky, and he is a very good basketball mind. (15) 1991 Playoffs - In the film, an announcer says, "The Bulls down the New York Knicks and are on their way to the first NBA championship series in their history."; the Knicks were actually the Bulls 1st round victims in the 1991 playoffs; Philadelphia and Detroit followed in the Eastern Conference. (16) 1991 on-court Championship celebration is overly staged. (17) United Center/Chicago Stadium - The Bulls did not move into the United Center until the 1993-94 season, during which Jordan was temporarily retired; in the film, it is spring 1993, and Jordan pulls into a stadium parking lot, where he talks with some kids; you can make out a partially obscured sign in the background, which says, "ED CENTER"; the Bulls played in Chicago Stadium during the 1992-93 season, as the United Center was still under construction. (18) The aforementioned kids Jordan talks with in the stadium parking lot - those kids could never have just walked into the player parking lot for Chicago Stadium or the United Center. (19) 1993 Eastern Conference Championship series - The film has an announcer claiming that the Knicks have just defeated the Bulls in the 3rd game of the Eastern Conference Finals; this is wrong; The Bulls trailed 2-0 after 2 losses in New York, and came back to win the series 4-2. (20) Post 1993 Championship - In the film, James Jordan sits in the arena where the final game of the 1993 NBA Finals was played (America West Arena; Phoenix, AZ) and talks with a character who is supposed to be a long time Chicago Stadium employee (played by Lou Rawls); their conversation seems to indicate that the two are at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, IL; Lou Rawls' character says that he's been working "this place" for a lot of years and before Michael Jordan arrived, you could shoot a cannon through "this place" and nobody would even hear it. (21) Birmingham Barons homerun - Jordan did hit two homers with the Barons in his first minor league season; the film shows Jordan hit one over the fence with the Barons in what appears to be a practice game or batting practice, not an actual game; the film is unclear what the circumstances are. (22) March 1995 - why stop here? "Space Jam" already covered much of this territory; we know that Jordan did not return to the Bulls in top form, and the Bulls lost to Orlando in the 1995 playoffs; we know that Jordan worked hard in the 1995 off-season to get back to top form, and he led the Bulls to 3 more consecutive championships; we know about the final shot of Jordan's career in June 1998.

The major problems with this movie are a bad concept, poor script, poor research, and a cheap budget. Some of the problems are a surprise, considering that Fox Family has money. This film ranks among the worst sports movies of all-time.