Directed by Ben Affleck (Argo (2012); Gone Baby Gone (2007); The Town (2010)) and starring Matt Damon (Manchester by the Sea (2016); The Martian (2015); Invictus (2009); Good Will Hunting (1997)), Jason Bateman (Game Night (2018); Ozark (tv series (2017-22)); Central Intelligence (2016); Arrested Development (tv series, 2003-19))), Ben Affleck (Gone Girl (2014); Argo (2012); Good Will Hunting (1997)), Viola Davis (The Help (2011); Doubt (2008); Fences (2016); The Woman King (2022)), Chris Messina (The Secrets We Keep (2020); I Care A Lot (2020); The Project (tv series, 2012-17)) and Damian Delano Young (Strictly for the Streets vol. 2 (2022)).
Drama; 112 mins; Children admitted
Starting out, the audience is presented with a real retro feel - the story is set in the early/mid 1980s and is set in the colliding world of professional sport (basketball, in this case) and big brand sponsorship / endorsements (Nike, in this case). At the key to it was the up-and-coming Michael Jordan who went on to become the greatest athlete in the history of basketball.
Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), a die-hard basketball fan, represents Nike and understands the game and knows the players; he attends many college basketball games and talks with people. He reports to Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), head of marketing at Nike which has a very strong running shoes department but is way behind both Converse and Adidas, with just 17% overall market share. They both report to Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), a rather eccentric individual who built the company and who controls the purse strings (and reports to the board).
However, to be able to sign Michael Jordan (Damian Delano Young), they must offer something that the company has never done before... To get there, they must first navigate his agent David Falk (Chris Messina) and his mother Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis).
Air has certain comparisons to John Lee Hancock's The Founder (2016) starring Michael Keaton about a salesman who turned a small fast food eatery, McDonald's, into the biggest restaurant business in the world; in Air, some of the same attributes apply - ambition, persistence and ruthlessness. Both are personal stories, told mainly from the perspective of an individual.
With a brilliant script, the story is told with emotion and empathy, with superb acting by a top-notch cast who all give depth to their characters. It is a not to the 1980s, with fashion, cars, interior decors and particularly the soundtrack, all contributing to a sense of nostalgia. Ben Affleck should be applauded for his contribution as director for his work on this film, bringing all the parts together effortlessly and seamlessly to deliver a superb film that should pick up awards as well as audience accolades. An interesting choice for an Amazon production to get a cinema release before going being launched on the streaming service.
Currently screening at Kinepolis in Luxembourg.
