The Last Dance clarifies, but doesn’t expand upon, Jordan’s legacy

Who is Michael Jordan, the real Michael Jordan, really? That was the tantalizing question we were promised an answer to in the form of an epic, 10 part documentary series focused on the Chicago Bull’s final championship winning season in 1998. “The Last Dance” (directed by Jason Hehir) teased us with never before seen footage of Jordan and the Bulls captured by a camera crew hired to document what many on the team knew would be their final season together (We have coach Phil Jackson to thank for the series’ appropriately romantic title).

For over a month now the sports world has been engaged in an almost constant re-watching and re-evaluating of the remarkable career of number 23, their attention abnormally focused by the suffocating effects of an ongoing pandemic, and in many ways we don’t know any more than we did 5 weeks ago. Outside of one or two neat moments the majority of the near 10 hour series is spent listening to various talking heads tell us that “Michael Jorden was really good at basketball” and “the thing about Michael is, he really wanted to win”, not exactly cutting insights to anyone with more than a passing interest in the history of the NBA.      

   

The interviews with the man himself are no more revealing. Jordan remains one of the most inscrutable and emotionally closed off superstars we’ve ever had, casually brushing off or papering over the various points of genuine controversy, and thus genuine interest, in his mostly spotless career. This makes for frustrating viewing for those that expected at least some deeper insight into what made the most notorious of competitors tick. The same goes for his co-stars, Pippen, Rodman, Jackson, who each have time dedicated to their contributions to the Bull’s dynasty and are covered in a similarly shallow way.

This is not unexpected; it’s well known that Jordan had final say on almost every creative choice, given that the series needed his approval to exist in the first place, and it’s not out of character for him to produce a slightly bitter, score settling, self-serving hagiography in lieu of critical introspection. Anyone who saw his hall of fame speech should have expected nothing less. The documentary is obviously not the equal of Ezra Edelman’s astonishing socio-political opus “O.J.: Made in America”, nor does it illuminate a unique off-court personality or relationship like his earlier “Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals” or Leon Gast’s “When We Were Kings”.

What “The Last dance” can do however, is entertain. Even after all these years and countless YouTube re-watches, Jordan’s on court play is as electrifying as anything I have ever seen, and Hehir knows how to ring it for every last ounce of serotonin. This is an expensive, handsome and slickly produced piece of work, that has the perfect needle drop for every dunking montage, the perfect talking head for every game recap, and of course Jordan himself, as charismatic and cool as any currently living athlete.

The sheer number and quality of interview subjects speaks to the enormity of the man’s fame; everyone from obscure Chicago beat writers to former US presidents show up, all of them totally reverential to the might and prowess of His Airness. Except former Detroit Pistons Guard Isiah Thomas, whose prickliness I personally found terrifically endearing.

As much as I was disappointed by the lack of fresh insight, I can’t deny the thrilling pleasures of watching Jordan and the Bulls reach basketball nirvana time and again. Not for a second throughout the whole ten hours did my attention waver, and that might be the best answer to the question “who is Michael Jordan?”. He is ultimately nothing more, or less, than the greatest, most entertaining basketball player who ever lived.