Formed with a cast of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Chris Tucker Air instantly becomes one of the best Sports Movies ever made. Jack and I sat down and overwhelmingly enjoyed the Film. Riding off of rejuvenated Michael Jordan fandom from ESPN and Netflix’s “The Last Dance”, “Air” delivers more Jordan fandom. Interestedly, the story takes place without much presence of the character of Jordan himself, allowing us to see how much influence his mother Deloris had.
Patrick’s Thoughts
Air is the best movie I've watched in a theater in a long time. I walked away from the film wishing I could have seen Jordan play while he was in the league. It adds even more stardom to Jordan, showing how his shoe deal was truly the first of a kind when he arrived in the league. Air provides a viewing point of how NIKE was constructed as a company back in 1984. The film proves how lucky NIKE was at the time, as well as how risky it was to solely go after Michael Jordan.
Had Jordan not been as dominant of a player as he was NIKE could’ve fallen out of the basketball shoe business altogether. NIKE had only 250K to spend on basketball contracts, they spent it all on Jordan and then some.
This film is one for everyone to see. You don't have to be a sports fan to watch or even like sports to enjoy the movie. The dialogue between the characters allow for comedic moments, and overall I'm a huge fan of the movie.
Jack’s Thoughts
Agreeing with Patrick, this was a great film. After knowing more details of the story, I think Jordan and NIKE built each other up without either side doing the heavy lifting. I think if the deal between Michael and NIKE had not happened, less people would consider him the goat and NIKE would no longer exist or be closer to a brand like Asics.
One of the best parts of it is the soundtrack, castings, and set design choices made that all bundle up to give a great aesthetic of the time period. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, and Chris Tucker are all so talented in their respective roles. Affleck also directed and produced it. The soundtrack featuring Tangerine Dream, Cyndi Lauper, and many others from the era compliment the film well right next to Phil Knight’s purple Porsche G-Series 911.
It was an interesting but welcomed choice to not show Michael’s face at all during the film. He is in the room and you can hear him speak once or twice, but the camera always just shows him either from the chest down or behind his head. This is done I believe in part to keep his legacy and to focus the attention on his parents since they were more involved with the NIKE discussions. Jordan is such a recognizable face that anyone playing him in a movie could be considered a mockery. And Viola Davis does such a good job as his mother Deloris that I’m not complaining.
My only gripe with the film was the pacing of it. It all played out well and I feel the audience got all the pieces of the story that were necessary for it to be told. However, the narrative kept changing the speed at which it was told. This is a nitpick, still a great film overall.
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