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Air Review
Image Credit: Ana Carballosa, Amazon Content Services LLC
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Directed By: Ben Affleck
Written By: Alex Convery
Runtime: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout
Matt Damon – Sonny Vaccaro
Ben Affleck – Phil Knight
Jason Bateman – Rob Strasser
Viola Davis – Deloris Jordan
Chris Tucker – Howard White
Chris Messina – David Falk
Matthew Maher – Peter Moore
Marlon Wayans – George Raveling
Julius Tennon – James Jordan
Damian Young – Michael Jordan
To say that Air is a film about how Michael Jordan signed a Nike contract to make billions of dollars would be an extreme oversimplification of what turns out to be a massively satisfying and entertaining film. Ben Affleck’s new film Air is a crowd-pleasing 1980s romp about an underdog, blue-collar company that risks it all and hits it big.
Air rewinds the clock back to 1984. Converse and Adidas were cornering the market for NBA sneakers. Nike was far behind in terms of sales and market share. Nike was more of a running shoe brand, and the cooler, younger, hipper crowd was into Converse and Adidas sneakers at the time. Not to mention, Converse and Adidas got the biggest names in basketball. Basketball players did not want to sign with Nike or wear their basketball sneakers. Enter sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), who was hired by Nike CEO Phil Knight (Affleck), to revitalize and grow their basketball sneaker division. The problem is that they don’t have big enough prospects, and the team lacks vision on who they should sign, with one executive scoffing at the likes of Charles Barkley. Michael Jordan is signed to the Chicago Bulls and about to have his rookie season, not long after his game-winning shot at the 1982 NCAA title victory.
Vaccaro is a man who likes to gamble and is struck by a vision. He wants to refocus all of Nike’s efforts on signing Michael Jordan. Instead of signing multiple NBA players to wear their sneakers, Nike will invest all their resources in just signing one, and the company will build its entire basketball division and shoe line around Jordan and only Jordan. The NBA rookie has not even stepped onto an NBA court yet, but Vaccaro knows that Jordan will become a basketball legend. However, even if he can get the rest of the Nike brass on board with the idea, Jordan is a whole different matter. Nike is not even on Jordan’s radar. They are not a major basketball shoe brand. The key to unlocking Jordan lies with his stern mother, Deloris (Davis), who is helping oversee the negotiations on behalf of her son. To complicate matters, Jordan’s agent David Falk (Messina) doesn’t even want to grant Nike a meeting with Jordan to give the aspiring player a formal offer.
Air is not so much a sports movie but a movie about the sports industry. It’s about the deals that occur behind the scenes in the sports world that cause major impacts that snowball into an avalanche throughout history. Affleck directs the film with a breezy, entertaining energy. It’s generally lighter fare, focused on Vaccaro spearheading Nike’s pursuit of Jordan and brainstorming ways to revolutionize the shoe industry. While Vaccaro’s contributions to signing Jordan over the years have been debated, he is the designated protagonist of the film who generally moves the plot forward. Vaccaro is the one who secures Nike a meeting with Jordan, gets Jordan’s family to agree to the all-important meeting, and works with shoe designer Peter Moore (Maher) to design the first Air Jordan prototype.
Even at 52, Matt Damon shares little in common physically with Sonny Vaccaro. At the same time, his unique charisma and charm make the film enjoyable and riveting. Affleck manages to make a movie about guys working in an office for about a week into riveting drama. Affleck and Damon do not disappear into their roles as Phil Knight and Sonny Vaccaro, but their performances and interplay are still enjoyable to watch. Affleck does well in showcasing Nike as an upstart, more modest, and blue-collar business. Nike was already a billion-dollar, publicly traded company in 1984, but their market share in the industry was much smaller at that time. Nike did not have the stars of Converse nor the old-money wealth of Adidas. As a result, Affleck nicely asserts Nike’s employees as the underdogs of the story that the audience will want to root for.
Chris Tucker delivers an incredible performance as Nike’s basketball executive Howard White. It’s a more subtle and dramatic performance for Tucker than his usual output, and he does a fantastic job playing a very grounded character. Marlon Wayans has a small role as basketball coach and friend to Vaccaro, George Raveling. It’s a small role for Wayans, but he leaves a strong impression. Also, Viola Davis elevates what easily could have been a marginal, thankless role as Deloris Jordan.
While Air is primarily focused on Nike trying to secure Jordan to their company, there is a secondary theme about reforming the industry and athletes receiving their rightful compensation from companies that exploit them and profit billions. The movie does represent Jordan’s side fighting for a piece of the revenue share. However, the idea of reforms in the basketball industry mostly takes a backseat throughout the film. That said, it does emerge well through Deloris Jordan. The subject matter of basketball reform and pro athletes fighting for their worth could be its own movie. There is more than enough material there to explore the idea in a separate film.
One of the film’s more interesting choices is the deliberate one by director Ben Affleck to make Michael Jordan a background character in this story. Jordan is largely offscreen and is not a fully realized character in the film. He is kept in the background, and most of the focus is on the people around him, even when he’s in the room. It’s an ambivalent choice, but greatly benefits the film. If Jordan was a more significant character throughout the film, his presence would likely be a distraction and take away from the experience. Few moviegoers have a frame of reference for the sneaker executives and sports business figures depicted in Air. However, almost everyone in the world knows Michael Jordan.
Air becomes too heavy-handed when it overly mythologizes Michael Jordan. At one point in the movie, a character espouses a monologue about the legend Michael Jordan will eventually become, which grinds Air to a halt and stops the film dead in its tracks. The moment breaks the exceptional immersion Affleck builds throughout the experience. There are moments in Air where Affleck lays the material on too thick, and this was one of those moments.
Regardless, Air is a crowd-pleasing, entertaining film that sports fans will enjoy and a fun snapshot of the 1980s. Frankly, the era looks like it’s rife for material for future films themed around the NBA during a unique period time when the NBA just had its championship finals moved off tape delay broadcasts and some of the biggest legends in the sport were emerging.
