Air film review: Ben Affleck’s feel-good Nike movie
Good Will Hunting besties Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reteam for the story behind the Air Jordan shoe, a product that still is the gold standard among sneaker heads but had a rocky road to infamy.
This biopic follows Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), an executive at the struggling Nike brand who believes he has found basketball’s Chosen One in rookie Michael Jordan. Coming up with the idea of making a shoe about the player, as opposed to for him, he must convince Nike founder Phil Knight (Affleck), the industry, and Jordan’s own mother Deloris (Viola Davis) that his idea will make history.
Like last week’s Tetris, there’s a giddiness in knowing that the hero risking it all is on the right track. Affleck directs the film as an against-the-odds feel-good piece that is a lot lighter than the award-winning dramas he made his name from. It builds as a kind of corporate fairy tale, deconstructing the idea of the athlete endorsement while benefiting greatly from Jordan’s aura (in a canny move from Affleck, the athlete’s face is never shown).
Damon brings the same kind of bright eyed determination he has in Ford Vs Ferrari, while Chris Tucker and Jason Bateman are good fun as Vaccaro’s allies. There’s lots to commend the film, but Davis takes it to another level.
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