By: Kimberly Grant
Have you ever wondered how the Air Jordan sneakers came to be? Well, you’re in luck. Because Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have made just that movie. It’s simply called Air.
Air is an Amazon Studios original film and is now available in theaters nationwide.
Air Origins
Picture it. It’s 1984 and Nike, Inc. is a publicly traded company that’s known for its running shoes. It has a basketball division, but it’s just about defunct. In fact, the division is so washed-up that the Board of Directors for Nike are considering disbanding the entire division as a cost-saving measure. See, for its market share, Nike had 17% of the sport shoe market. Converse and Adidas had 54% and 29%, respectively. Why does this matter?
In 1984, Nike was considered a third-rate sports shoe company and couldn’t afford to attract high level athletes to promote their shoes. And, then its college basketball scout, Sonny Vaccaro (played by Damon) had a great idea: let’s build a shoe around a then-rookie Michael Jordan. At this time, Michael had just been signed by the Chicago Bulls. Even though there were championships in his future, no one knew that at the time.
Except Sonny. Sonny, a habitual gambler, decided to bet big on a young man who had strong parents guiding him. Michael’s mother Deloris Jordan is played by Viola Davis and his father, James Jordan, is being played by Davis’ real-life husband Julius Tennon. Since it’s been 39 years and millions of shoes later, we pretty much know the outcome of the film and the large sums of money Michael Jordan was able to amass just from the shoe line. And, let’s not forget a sneaker movement in which Air Jordans have played a major role.
Writing From Air
Air is written by Alex Convery and directed by Affleck. This is Convery’s first time writing and producing a film. So, there’s no previous work to gravitate toward. However, he does do a decent job of writing a story that should have been a TV special. A major part of what makes a movie great is how it makes you feel and not knowing the end until, well, you get to the end. Not so for Air. Even though the audience is not familiar with the ins and outs of the Air Jordan story, we know that Nike ends up making the shoe and further builds its empire from the sneaker line.
If I had to sum up my opinion of this film, it would be that it was good, but not great. And, I wanted to see more from the perspective of the Jordans. By that I mean, the audience never gets to see Damian Delano Young’s face. See, he’s playing Michael Jordan in the movie, but we never see his face and we barely get to him hear him speak. Meanwhile, Davis and Tennon do a fine job of playing MJ’s parents. Unfortunately, their part of the story feels lacking. Maybe some significant scenes with the Jordans ended up on the cutting room floor.
Or Affleck, who pulls double duty as director and actor, playing Nike CEO Philip Knight, felt that the perspective of the Nike employees was way more important than the people the iconic shoes were named after.
Talented Air
Chris Tucker plays Howard White, who is integral to the Nike deal with the Jordans. As always, Tucker brings some comic relief to the film, but it’s not that funny. In fact, some of the best comedic lines in the film come from Damon and Chris Messina’s David Falk. David is MJ’s foul-mouthed agent who tries to stop the deal with Nike to no avail.
Jason Bateman plays VP of marketing Rob Strasser. If I had to sum up his performance it would be the mediocre white male in a position of power that he probably didn’t earn. Now, that could be far from the truth about the real Strasser. But the film doesn’t paint him in the best light. Lastly, Marlon Wayans makes a cameo in the film as US Olympic Basketball coach George Raveling. Wayans’ character is on the screen just long enough to give an anecdotal story about a historical figure and then he’s gone. This is important, because George should have been more prominent in the film because of his relationship with MJ.
Absence of Matter
As you’ve probably guessed, Air is a good movie to see once. You get to see what it took to bring Air Jordans to fruition from the perspective of the men of Nike who took a big gamble that paid off. In the hands of Convery and Affleck, though, we get what feels like a one-sided story. This makes the film seem like it’s full of hot air. Hopefully the next iteration will give audiences a better perspective from the Jordans and not the mediocre white men whose initial plan was to use the name and likeness of a black man without properly compensating him.
Curious about other films I liked (or didn’t like)? You can read my reviews in my Entertainment Blog.
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