Repost: Air (2023)

Dir: Ben Affleck

Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis

Ben Affleck’s Nike Air origin story is charming but safe.

To celebrate 1 year of DanLovesFilm I will be reposting some of my original reviews from the early days of the site – enjoy.

Team Affleck and Damon are back again for what feels like the umpteenth time, and why not. The two actors who have been very close personally and professionally throughout their careers have great on screen chemistry and 26 years after they co-wrote and co-starred in Good Will Hunting (1997) they show no signs of slowing down.

Affleck has now established himself as a talented director after the successes of taut thrillers The Town (2010) and more so Argo (2012), which saw him egregiously snubbed for a Best Director nomination at the 2013 Academy Awards. This however, seemed to be a safe play from him, despite having one of the best cinematographers in the industry in Robert Richardson behind the camera and a stacked cast consisting of himself, Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina and the stand-out as always, Viola Davis.

The film takes place in the 80’s and begins with Dire Strait‘s “Money for Nothing” playing over the opening credits, which will be the first of countless 80’s needle drops throughout the film that range from Night Ranger to Violent Femmes. We follow Matt Damon who portrays real life Nike talent scout Sonny Vaccaro, he is out scouting a high-school basketball game while the bosses at the Oregon based Nike are contemplating shutting down their Basketball shoe division as they cannot compete with heavy hitters Converse and Adidas.

In a scene that mirrors the MLB draft pick scene in the Aaron Sorkin penned Moneyball (2011), the Nike board contemplate which basketball players to sign from the 1984 NBA draft. Vaccaro is determined that what the brand needs is a future star and prospect in Michael Jordan, but due to his preferred interest in Adidas trainers and Nike’s lack of budget, he is deemed not an option. After some 80’s style plot device convenience, which may be true, Damon’s Vaccaro realises that Jordan must be signed and the way to get him is to go through the person that matters to him and his career most – his mother.

What follows is a series of visits and meetings between Vaccaro and the Jordan family, with Davis portraying the vocal family matriarch. Davis dominates the screen anytime she is on it and this is another performance to add to a back catalogue of outstanding performances that truly cements her as one of the best actors of her generation. Vaccaro has the job of using his charm and personality to win her and her son over, with promises on a more personal level than the like of Adidas and Converse can offer – the rest they say is history.

I went in to this not knowing a great deal about the story behind it, I would not count myself in the target demographic, I am not a basketball fan and do not really wear trainers casually. Saying that I did find the film charming and somewhat inspiring. It plays out almost like an underdog story like most sports films but from the board room perspective. There was great performances from the ensemble cast with Davis and Affleck as the materialistic Nike CEO Phil Knight (who has a purple Porsche with personal plates) as the standouts. The strength of the film comes from the casts’ chemistry and the zippy, quippy and often comedic dialogue given to them by screenwriter Alex Convery. For his first big-screen debut, he certainly channels his inner Aaron Sorkin, which kept me engaged and reasonably interested for the breezy 110 minute runtime.

Air is available to stream on Prime Video

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