Time: 112 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Offensive language
Cast:
Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro
Ben Affleck as Phil Knight
Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser
Chris Messina as David Falk
Matthew Maher as Peter Moore
Marlon Wayans as George Raveling
Chris Tucker as Howard White
Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan
Director: Ben Affleck

Air is Ben Affleck’s first directed movie since 2016’s Live By Night, and its about Nike’s deal with Michael Jordan. I didn’t know anything about the subject matter outside of the end result, but with Affleck and a cast including Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis and Chris Tucker, I was curious to check it out. Overall, it was a nice, surprising, and entertaining watch.

As I said, I don’t know much about sports or athletes and while I certainly knew of Michael Jordan, I’m not too familiar with Michael Jordan. I don’t know the journey, but I do know the ending of this story, with Nike successfully making the deal with Jordan. Anyone watching the movie already knows the ending, so it isn’t suspenseful and there no stakes really. Still, it is engaging to watch, helped by a strong and witty script. The dialogue is well written with some amazing monologues, and the humour is well utilised. The story is straightforward, but that helped me get into it more and I was able to understand what was happening. It’s an energetic film and made every scene exciting, no matter how mundane they seem on paper. Funnily enough, Air is sort of an underdog movie despite being about a recognisable brand making a deal. It’s notable that this movie focusses on the Nike people and while Michael Jordan is a notable part of it, it doesn’t spend a lot of time with him in person. An interesting choice is the fact that in the scenes with Jordan, it never shows his face. Instead, it blocks it or cuts away as he’s about to come into frame. This is a deliberate decision to make him feel like this larger than life mythological figure, and that honestly worked for this movie.

Air has an ensemble of great actors, all of whom do some really good work here and play off each other really well. Matt Damon is the main character, as the one person who is actively pursuing making this deal with Michael Jordan. Damon is good, making it really easy for us to root for him. Other actors like Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina and Chris Tucker work well in their parts. Viola Davis is particularly great as Michael Jordan’s mother, the film utilises her incredibly well.

Ben Affleck directs this very well. The movie really nails the 80s vibe and feel with the retro colour grading, and the way its filmed, edited, and combined with the soundtrack.

Air is a straightforward yet very well made, entertaining, and engaging biopic, with a witty script, strong direction and great cast. It might not reach the heights of Affleck’s other directed movies like Gone Baby Gone or The Town, but it is quite good. It’s worth watching even if you don’t think you’d be interested in this.