Air Review

Air releases on Amazon’s Prime Video on May 12 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

It’s not often that an underdog sports dramedy wants to get you rooting for a massive corporation, but that’s the unique position of Air. Director Ben Affleck and writer Alex Convery adapt the semi-biographical story of how Nike became a basketball sneaker titan by focusing on its employees rather than on spokesman Michael Jordan, which works surprisingly well. The choice to never show an actor playing Jordan (beyond from-behind silhouettes) allows all main players of this true-ish Nike story to shine without having to compete with the Hall of Famer’s greatness. Instead, Convery’s screenplay finds thematic importance in how Nike’s Jordan deal forever changed royalty stakes for athletes and the lives of the ambitious people inside it, which permits an outstanding ensemble to sell the cheerily hopeful messages behind Air.

Air tells a story about dreamers and mavericks, pulling together a tremendous cast who finds the best in their characters. Jordan may be the celebrity at the center, but it’s Matt Damon’s tenacious Sonny Vaccaro who is the unlikely hero – the basketball guru hired by Nike CEO Phil Knight (played with rich confliction by Affleck) to build their specialty division that aspires to compete with A.D.I.D.A.S and Converse’s NBA stranglehold. Damon’s everyman charm as the smartest sports analyst in a room full of marketing suits plays into his ability to win just about anyone over, be they his co-stars or us in the audience. Sonny spends the entire movie betting his job, other employees’ jobs, and Nike’s struggling basketball division on his crazy idea to bet everything on Jordan – a role that Damon grounds with lovable optimism and leading-man charisma that eradicates any boardroom stuffiness.

Air highlights meaty performances like Viola Davis as Jordan’s negotiation-savvy mother Deloris, and Jason Bateman as Nike’s stressy, by-the-books marketing manager Rob Strasser. These actors and more make Air a human drama where dollar signs and television commercial spots are the topic but not the focus – it’s all about why Sonny and Rob would work weekends or why Deloris eventually granted Nike a meeting despite Jordan’s disinterest. Air cleverly allows the perspectives of everyone, from panicking CEOs to Chris Messina as Jordan’s scene-stealing, hot-headed agent to steer the story away from being just another number-crunching biopic without a soul.

Affleck focuses on characters with laser sights, but sometimes forgets to characterize Air itself.

That said, Affleck and Convery are giving us information we already know in a commercial package less concerned about reinvention. Air might be Affleck’s least visually compelling movie, especially with some green-screen shots that stick out like a sore digital thumb. The Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon doesn’t ever feel unique in its non-metropolitan location, nor does the aesthetic feel indulgently ‘80s despite Phil’s iconic neon-pink “nut hugger” jogging shorts or a few needle drops (Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” sets the tone like it has for many movies before). Affleck focuses on characters with laser sights, but sometimes forgets to characterize Air itself. It’s all on the backs of a cast asked to find heartfelt themes in the business of NBA shoe market supremacy.

Thankfully, the cast does just that.

Every actor snatches the ball and is allowed their spotlight moment. Davis reaches beyond stereotypes about overbearing mothers to embody a strong Black woman who stands proudly before white businessmen who see her son as a golden goose. Damon struggles to release the budgetary handcuffs restricting Sonny’s ability to do his job while reconciling the reality that Nike’s entire basketball division could vanish if his brilliant-in-hindsight gamble fails.

Every actor snatches the ball and is allowed their spotlight moment.

These are the performances that leave lasting impressions – sometimes pure entertainment value, other times emotionally pointed, like when Bateman vulnerably states what’s at stake should his company man and part-time father lose his stable job. Convery’s story isn’t just about what would happen to Nike if Jordan chose Converse or A.D.I.D.A.S instead – it’s so compellingly about the people the deal would either build or destroy, depending on the outcome.

It’s also a funnier movie than expected. One can assume the actual proceedings that led to Jordan’s deal with Nike weren’t as filled with jokes, especially the fiery banter between Sonny and David whenever the frustrated agent calls to chew Nike’s persistent negotiator a new one. Even supporting castmate Matthew Maher finds artfully dropped lines of comedic relief as chief shoe designer Peter Moore because no role, however small, is wasted.

Affleck successfully does what Tetris also attempts: spicing up dry contract negotiations with humor and levity, another secret ingredient that adds to the intrigue. This is, after all, a story you’ve probably already heard with a groundbreaking outcome, and yet we’re happily along for the ride, respecting the characters’ hustle while laughing at their methods as the Air Jordan line is created before our eyes.