AIR – Review by Susan Granger
Confession: I knew nothing about Michael Jordan and his signature Nike sneakers before watching Air, recounting how Sonny Vaccaro convinced the then-rookie to sign a unique endorsement deal that changed the retail sports-apparel industry.
Insightfully scripted by newcomer Alex Convery and astutely directed by Ben Affleck (Argo), it’s really a sports fable, centered on the 1984 corporate culture at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Back then, Nike was known for its running shoes which had zero impact on fashion.
This underdog story begins as Nike’s basketball scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) searches for the next player to promote the footwear brand – which, at that time, was far behind Adidas and Converse.
When he suddenly realizes that 18 year-old Michael Jordan, an NBA rookie from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has superstar potential, Sonny faces major hurdles.
He must not only to convince CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), marketing VP Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), executive Howard White (Chris Tucker), and Michael’s abrasive agent, David Falk (Chris Messina), but primarily Michael’s shrewdly savvy mother Deloris (Viola Davis).
“He doesn’t just wear the shoe,” Sonny proclaims. “He is the shoe. The shoe is him.”
“A shoe is just a shoe,” Deloris counters, “until my son steps into it.”
Cue Nike’s creative director Peter Moore (Matthew Maher), who actually designed and, perhaps, named the iconic Swoosh-adorned Air Jordan. (Moore died in April, 2022, just three weeks before filming began.)
Noted as part of the closing credits is how Sonny played a pivotal role in taking on the N.C.A.A. to help college athletes get paid for commercial use of their likenesses in 2009’s O’Bannon case.
It’s a fortuitous reunion for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose debut feature Good Will Hunting (1998) won them a screenwriting Oscar. Just last year, they formed Artists Equity, a production company with a profit-sharing model to create better deals for everyone employed in making movies.
FYI: Julius Tennon, who plays Michael Jordan’s father, is Viola Davis’ real-life husband.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, Air is a scrappy, sneaker-driven 7, streaming on Prime Video.
