Director and star Ben Affleck’s AIR follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. Set in the prophetic year of 1984, Nike was losing brutally to its competitors Converse and Adidas, all while Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) was cooking up the deal of a lifetime. Right from the very first frame and first needle drop, this feels like a mid 80’s flick, and that is awesome to see. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, you prefer Lebron or Jordan, care or don’t care about sneakers, there is something in AIR for everyone. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s reunion is sharply written by Alex Convery, tightly paced, and an inspiringly uplifting American success story that is bound to win the hearts of the general public. Damon as Sonny is the best he has been in years, making the viewer care about a middle aged marketing executive, which isn’t the easiest thing. Affleck’s direction is strong and focused but what really sold me was his dynamic performance as eccentric Nike CEO Phil Knight. Jason Bateman is equally brilliant as Nike's vice president of marketing Rob Strasser and the chemistry he has with Affleck and Damon is very believable and oftentimes quite humorous. Speaking of hilarity, Chris Tucker is an absolute riot as Nike executive Howard White and had my audience roaring in laughter on more than one occasion. Keep in mind, this film is very much about the formation of the Air Jordan sneaker and how it came to be, so certain elements regarding Michael Jordan’s actual involvement or lack there of, may work for some and not so much for others. Viola Davis plays Michael Jordan’s mother and serves as Michael’s spokesperson of sort for the film. Davis along with Julius Tannon both do a fine job portraying Michael’s parents and mostly compensate for the absence of MJ’s presence. The soundtrack is made up of some of my favorite 80’s songs, with a surprising use of ‘Tempted by the Fruit of Another’ being a major highlight for me. Being a film revolving around sneakers and striking a huge business deal, this could have easily been a boring slog that would cater only to a very limited niche audience. Thankfully, this is not the case. So overall, despite my mixed feelings about the in-movie use of Michael Jordan, Ben Affleck‘s AIR is a funny, inspirational, uplifting, and crowd pleasing telling of a true all American success story that forever changed the sports industry and how we look at basketball shoes.
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