Ben Affleck’s Air is kind of like Moneyball—a real-life sports drama in which all of the action—the struggles, the losses and the triumphs—occurs not on the playing field but in the boardroom. Even the key athletic figure in the narrative—a basketball player of some renown by the name of Michael Jordan—is kept off-screen for most of its running time and during the few moments in which he does appear, it is only either via archival clips or in brief shots in which we never quite get a firm fix on him. This may frustrate some viewers hoping for a more conventional biopic but it makes sense in this case because the entire film is basically about the point in time when the combination of his undeniable athletic prowess and determination to succeed and the determination of then-fledgling shoe company Nike to stake pretty much everything they had on him led to a partnership that (Spoiler Alert) helped make the company the biggest name in athletic shoes and Jordan into one of the biggest names on the world. The resulting film may be a bit uneven from a dramatic standpoint but it is ultimately far more entertaining and incisive than one might expect from a story that is basically about a bunch of guys trying to make an all-important business deal happen.
Set in 1984 (complete with an opening montage to get you in that frame of mind), the film stars Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, a Nike executive charged with scouting rising young basketball talents and signing them to endorsement deals with the company. Alas, at this point in time, Nike lagged far behind such competitors as Adidas and Converse, didn’t have nearly enough money to offer competitive bids for players and company CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) was contemplating eliminating the basketball division altogether. As he and his team contemplate which three players they might be able to afford with their total $250,000 budget, Sonny recognizes that they won’t be able to get anyone who might drive sales with that money. Instead, he hits upon the idea of taking all of that money and putting it towards the hopes of signing college phenomenal Michael Jordan to a deal.
This proves to be a tricky proposition for a number of reasons. For one, his co-workers, including Knight and marketing chief Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) think it is foolhardy to put all their eggs in one especially risky basket. For another, super-agent David Falk (Chris Messina) refuses to even let Sonny talk to Jordan’s camp without tendering a firm offer in advance. Finally, there is the minor fact that Jordan himself has already voiced a preference for going with Adidas. Despite these obstacles, Sonny decides to press ahead in an unorthodox manner, first by talking with former Olympics coach George Raveling (Marlon Wayans) and then by taking inspiration from Raveling and going around Falk in order to talk to the most important person in Jordan’s camp, his mother Delores (Viola Davis).
During his conversation with Delores, Sonny learns that while she clearly wants what is best for her son, she also has a very clear idea of what his gifts are worth and is unwilling to settle for anything less than their true value. By this point, Sonny, driven by both his belief that Jordan is the real thing and his willingness to gamble everything without hesitation, is pretty much on her wavelength and hits upon an idea that will hopefully separate his company from the competition with their bigger checkbooks and starrier rosters of talent—Nike will design an entire shoe line inspired specifically by Jordan and will even do it in black and red, despite the fact that such colors are against NBA rules. This is an astounding offer—bear in mind that Jordan had yet to play a single professional game at this point—but will it be too much for his company to bear and/or not enough to sway Jordan to sign on?
Of course, unless you have been sitting under a rock for the last several decades, you already know the answer to that question. What makes Air so fascinating is that even though Affleck and screenwriter Alex Convery are telling a story where the ending is already known, they manage to do so in a way that maintains a genuine level of dramatic tension throughout, akin to what Affleck was able to accomplish with Argo. There is a feeling of suspense as Sonny puts his entire department at risk in order to pursue the idea that seems so right that he cannot shake it and when he essentially delivers a audible during the official presentation to the Jordans to make his case in human terms, it is a startling and effective moment. Essentially, Air is letting us in on the creation of a pair of legends—the phenomenons of Michael Jordan and Nike shoes—but does so in such a credibly human manner that you never get the sense that you are watching an expensive produced informercial for products that were sold to us long ago.
Having shaken off the torpor that plagued his last directorial effort, the disastrous period crime thriller Live By Night, Affleck takes a film that could have just been two hours of people sitting in rooms arguing about deal points and makes it come to life in unexpectedly exciting ways. As a filmmaker, he has always favored focusing on the performances over a flashy cinematic style and that is certainly the case here. With this film, he is working with a hugely gifted cast of actors across the board and he gives each of them the room to let their performances breathe and connect with each other in ways that are entirely relatable. Damon is the best he has been in a long time with a turn that laces his standard intelligence and determination with a sense of desperation that comes from more than just the potbelly he sports here. (Perhaps the pubic chastening he received after those infamous crypto ads he did last year was worth it after all.) He is surrounded by a bunch of good actors doing strong and focused work but while people like Davis, Bateman and Affleck himself (who is especially funny as Knight, struggling to find a balance between the Zen-like philosopher that he fancies himself as with the capitalist who drives around in an especially ostentatious sports car that exists for no other reason than to show to others just how rich he is) predictably knock their scenes out of the park, the biggest scene stealer proves to be Matthew Maher, who is wonderful in his scenes as Peter Moore, the guy who actually designed the shoe.
Air does have a couple of flaws, though most of them prove to be reasonably forgivable. Affleck does overdo it a bit at times with a soundtrack jam-packed with hit songs from the period, though this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that 1984 was arguably the last undeniably perfect era for Top 40 music. There is also a little bit of frustration to be had in the way that the script does at one point hint at the ways in which overseas workers are exploited by companies like Nike, a bold move, especially considering that Nike presumably had to sign off on it, but one that isn’t followed through in any meaningful way that might have explored the dark side of the mythology being created here. I also wish that there had been a little more material involving another key member of the Nike team, Howard White, because the performance in the role by Chris Tucker is probably the best thing that he has ever done on screen—it may be the first time that a Tucker performance has left you wanting more instead of less.
The other major hiccup involves the decision by Affleck to never really show Jordan full-on at any point in the film—outside of the archival footage of his games, he is briefly portrayed in a couple of scenes by Damian Young but we pretty much only seem him from behind and even then, the glimpses are fleeting. Conceptually, this is not a bad idea—Jordan is such a recognizable figure that unless you managed to find an exact double, any substitute would come across as somewhat jarring—and there is a certain wit to depicting him only in the abstract as others might do with a religious icon. However, the conceit sort of backfires during the big pitch meeting sequence. You want to see how Jordan is reacting as Sonny pours everything he has into this ostensibly low-key but undeniably high-stakes meeting but not only do you not get that, the contortions that Affleck and cinematographer Robert Richardson go to in order to keep him out of frame become distracting.
For the most part, though, Air is a fascinating, fast-moving and sometimes moving look at how legacies are born and who gets to create and tell those particular stories. Here is a film that could have just come across as an extended infomercial but it has been transformed into a far more universal story and an oddly triumphant one when all is said and done. Even if you have never worn a pair of Air Jordans before or ever had the opportunity to see Jordan in action on the court, this film will still captivate you and leave you feeling strangely exhilarated afterwards by how well all of its parts come together in the end.