If you thought Michael Jordan was an imposing figure in his real-life six feet six inch frame, try viewing him when he’s stories high — eight stories high, to be exact. For 45-minutes, the newest film at the Whitaker Center’s Grass/Rite Aid IMAX Theater, Michael Jordan to the MAX, recounts the legendary career and final winning season of the NBA superstar. Interspersing images of his life off the court with shots of his spectacular game, the film brings the two together like some lengthy highlight reel — Jordan with his family, Jordan’s relationship with his father, Jordan’s commercial success, Jordan with his teammates, Jordan’s dalliance with baseball, and, of course, Jordan’s dominance over the league, as he finishes off a number of basketball foes throughout the film: the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Indiana Pacers, the Utah Jazz — from high school to the NBA, if it happened, it’s in there.

With a pulsating soundtrack that could just have easily been used in a Jerry Bruckheimer (Crimson Tide, Armageddon) action flick, the beat strikes you right to the core, echoing the larger than life sound of the bouncing of a basketball on the hardwood court. The sights and sounds of the rest of the film are just as clear. Though filmed with a special IMAX camera that is larger and bulkier than most equipment, the footage of Jordan’s final NBA Championship run is appropriately as close and as wide as the occasion required, from a one-on-one interview with Jordan to a wide-angle view of his game- (and Championship-) winning last second shot against the Utah Jazz that encompasses both the full action on the court and the vivid expressions of the players’ faces on the Bulls’ bench.

Just as much a feel-good film as it is a sports flick, one does not need to know basketball to appreciate a viewing of Michael Jordan to the MAX. Like many athletes, Jordan has transcended the sporting world and has become a household name outside the arena and beyond the auspices of ESPN or Sports Illustrated. Michael Jordan to the MAX is not so much about basketball or a diary of a championship season, but more an up-close-and-personal view into the life of one of the most widely recognized figures of this day and age.

And if that’s not worth sneaking an eight-story peak at, what is?