This biographical basketball-based story was dubbed “the best movie of the year so far” in the United States. But, in the United States, folks truly care about basketball.
We in the UK are less excited about the possibility of a film about the business birth of a basketball sneaker. Because Air is that slightly unusual sell: a sports film with no sports.
As the title suggests, Ben Affleck’s newest drama is the genesis tale of the Air Jordan trainer. Nike now makes $4 billion (£3.2 billion) from the Air Jordan trademark. However, in 1984 (where we reach thanks to a potentially comically over-egged 1980s montage), Nike was a plucky underdog.
All the fashionable kids were wearing Adidas (made famous by Run DMC), and Nike was so terribly unhip that Michael Jordan, a then 18-year-old emerging college sensation, didn’t want to touch them with a barge stick. That’s Air’s story: how will Nike convince him to sign?
Sonny (Matt Damon with a belly) persuades his similarly maverick employer, Phil Knight (a Buddhist-quoting Affleck in a bad wig and naked feet), to bet his entire department’s budget on courting Jordan.
But the real kicker comes when Sonny has an epiphany: Nike will create a new sneaker specifically for Jordan, rather than simply having Jordan wear their current shoes.
Air lies somewhere between Moneyball and Jerry Maguire in terms of talky sports pictures.
It’s an ensemble drama directed by Affleck in which each of the easily superb cast members gets their uplifting, major statement moment. (in close-up). Surprisingly, Michael Jordan only shows in silhouette.
Other key characters include Jason Bateman, who plays a divorced father marketing executive who could lose his job if Sonny doesn’t contract Jordan; Chris Tucker, who plays the fast-talking player relations boss; and Chris Messina, who plays the obscenity-spewing agent.
Best of all, there’s renowned EGOT winner Viola Davis, who Jordan chose to portray his beloved mother.
Davis is primarily responsible for keeping this Air from becoming what it is in risk of becoming: a bunch of middle-aged white guys on phones shouting at each other.
Not a slam dunk, but a competent, mature film. And the roots of Nike’s Just Do It slogan will astound you.
Air is out now in cinemas.