Film Review: Air

Funny how between Air and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, this particular Easter weekend has two films that are basically extended star-studded commercials that tug on your nostalgia for its subject matter which has continued to stay relevant, with a very fast paced story built on a basic at best and flimsy at worst premise that keeps things fairly superficial. Hell, an argument could even be made for that Paint movie where Owen Wilson plays Not-Bob Ross, but it is pretty the opposite of fast paced. Anyways, the film we’re talking about today is Air, and overall it’s a perfectly solid piece of commercial entertainment.

If you’ve been living under a rock, and don’t know what this is about, it follows the steps taken that resulted in the business deal between Michael Jordan and Nike that resulted in the wildly successful creation of the Air Jordan shoes. We experience this through the eyes of Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), who is struggling to deal with the bureaucracy at a struggling Nike as they try to find basketball players to sign, all of whom would much rather go to Adidas or Converse. But a lightbulb moment has Sonny convinced that getting Michael Jordan is the key, and tries to convince CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) to bankroll his effort to make the deal.

Yes, this is an origin story for a shoe. But I have learned long ago to never dismiss a film by its premise or its intellectual property alone, you can make a good movie out of anything, and one would hope that Alex Convery’s script hit the Black List in 2021 for a reason. And you know what, it’s good, it’s very solid. The dialogue really pops, it moves, William Goldenberg’s editing flows, Robert Richardson’s cinematography is immersive and propulsive, Ben Affleck’s direction is absolutely aces, even if the almost constant needle drops do veer into parody at point. It’s a solid fun watch that doesn’t require you to have any investment in a shoe to buy into the story.

What this film does so well is that it taps into a style of storytelling that really appeals to me, and quite a few folks out there as well, and that is competency porn. Films that are all about individuals or groups of people who are deeply passionate and incredibly skilled at their jobs trying to work together to solve a problem. Sonny is easy to root for, his passion for basketball is infectious, and seeing him believe so hard on this very risky bet makes you believe in him as well, and it’s cool to see how he and his Nike team work to arrange everything for this deal to be setup.

Outside of that though, there isn’t really a lot going on here under the surface. In fact, doing that opens a whole can of worms regarding capitalism, materialism, celebrity worship, corporate worship, just stuff that kinda sucks the fun out of it if you think even a little bit on it. It’s clearly not a concern for the filmmakers, so I was able to just go with its conceit, and I was able to have a pretty good time, but it might be my least favorite film from Ben Affleck so far. Also, Michael Jordan barely appearing, and when he does, hardly saying a word except for a few off-screen was a bit unintentionally funny to me.

And that’s Air, it’s almost a perfect title. It’s a very light movie with not much going on, but the actual experience of watching it, getting swept up in the routines, the procedures, the phone calls, the meetings, I was sucked in. I was wondering how they were going to get this deal done. It helps that everyone involved is working at the top of their game, even if the material itself is fairly thin. Affleck, Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Viola Davis (who plays Jordan’s mother), Matthew Maher all deliver really strong work here. There’s not much I can really point to and say “that’s bad,” because there really isn’t much, it’s only the subtext and implications that can be a bit off-putting like I said earlier, if you choose to read it through that lens. But as a breezy dad movie, it’s good stuff.

Air is now out in theaters.