Air
AIR (12)
D: Ben Affleck
Amazon / Skydance / Artists Equity / Mandalay (David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber & Jason Michael Berman)
US 🇺🇸 2023
112 mins
Drama/Biopic
W: Alex Convery
DP: Robert Richardson
Ed: William Goldenberg
Matt Damon (Sonny Vaccaro), Ben Affleck (Phil Knight), Jason Bateman (Rob Strasser), Marlon Wayans (George Raveling), Chris Messina (David Falk), Chris Tucker (Howard White), Viola Davis (Deloris Jordan)
Air is a biographical sports drama surrounding the 1984 promotion of Nike’s new training shoes and their attempts to seek Michael Jordan’s endorsement of the product prior to his basketball career reaching the heights that would make the business incredibly successful (& Michael Jordan incredibly wealthy), despite strong competition from other brands, that were seen as far more fashionable at the time.
The cast boasts a fine ensemble, headed by Matt Damon as the executive with the vision of signing Jordan prior to his fame, but the supporting cast are all excellent as well, with some possibly delivering their finest screen performances to date.
It’s also a testament to great screenwriting and direction that such a captivating film could be made from subject matter that could easily be considered mundane, even more surprisingly so when you take into account that this is writer Alex Convery’s first credited work.
A truly engaging time portal of a movie, and amongst the best of 2023.
8/10
Though Michael Jordan was not directly involved in the film, Ben Affleck consulted him numerous times to get details on how to accurately portray the story. According to Affleck, Jordan's only two requests were that Viola Davis play his mother and that his longtime friend Howard White be included in the film.