Air Movie Review
Air Jordans. We all love them, we all know them. Believe it or not there was a time when Air Jordan hadn’t been invented yet. Air directed by Ben Affleck, portrays the true origin story of the shoe that we all now know and love. The film follows Nike’s marketing executive in the 80s, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) as he stays determined in order to make his dream, Air Jordan, into a reality. He must stay determined in order to sell the shoe to the world, to the CEO of Nike Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), to Micheal Jordan, but mostly he must sell the shoe to Micheal Jordan’s persistent and visionary mother, Dolaris Jordan (Viola Davis).
The film has many things going for it however one of the main and arguably the strongest pillars of the film is the stellar screenplay written by Alex Convery. As an aspiring screenwriter, I get bubbles of excitement everytime I see a screenplay like this. Upon watching the movie, it is instantly evident that Convery did his homework. The accurate and detailed approach isn’t the only thing great about this script. Convery’s dialogue is a thing of beauty. The film goes from knee-slapping laughter to eye-watering drama. A masterclass in characterization as this is a very character driven film. Never a dull moment and that has much to do with the grand screenplay.
Something else to note is the editing. The editing follows the pattern of Affleck’s other films in recent history. This is due to fellow collaborator, William Goldenberg who also edited one of Affleck’s previous films, Argo. The editing is very quick-paced with lots of insert shots that are cut quickly next to one another, creating for a certain tone indicating the quick and busy swirling life of the characters in this film. Something else that is done really well editing wise is the color grading. The lighting creates a warm and comfortable tone. The color grading in post editing helps this effect as well. The music of the film is edited masterfully. Sound editing using various songs from the 80’s, further encapsulating the audience into the setting. Each song fitting for its respective scene.
Something that deserves to have light shed on is the supporting cast. Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Matthew Maher, Marlon Wayans and Chris Massina all have lots of screen time which is something not portrayed in the trailers and marketing for this film. Their performances make up a large portion of the greatness of this movie. It might be Jason Bateman’s best performance yet! He does a great job in balancing humor with drama in a manner that is very different from his usual sarcastic humor style. Chris Tucker is in a return to form, especially in the first act of the movie. Unlike Bateman, Tucker sticks to his guns and uses his usual comedic stick and it works! Matthew Maher puts on a great performance portraying an innocent and humble intelligence and an un-self aware style of comedy. It matches very well with the rest of the cast. Marlon Wayans in a serious role. Like Bateman he strays away from his usual style, however it pays off. He doesn’t have much screen time, however the screen time he does have is necessary and he does a great job portraying the seriousness of the character. The most surprising performance in the entire film comes from Chris Massina who plays as Micheal Jordan’s insanely comedic agent, David Falk. Massina is the most humorous element of the entire picture. From time to time he goes on insanely humorous angry rants similar to Jack Nicholson’s character, Buddy Rydell in Anger Management. Main protagonist wide, both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck put on great performances. Matt Damon is a determined character. Ben Affleck with a front that is he is able to slowly make the audience root for as the film continues. Of all the main protagonists, Viola Davis might be the most impressive performance of them all. She sticks Dolaris Jordan’s accent to a T. She becomes the protagonist as she indirectly portrays the importance of sticking up for rights and showing how and where Micheal Jordan got his killer mindset from.
Now to get to the cons of the film. There aren't many cons within the picture. One of the cons is in the first act. The pacing is inconsistent in comparison to the second and third acts. The second act has a clear start and has a more confident approach to storytelling. Another flaw is that at times there are too many insert shots. Too many inserts that take away from the narrative at hand. That’s it.
Air is a great move that follows a great story in history. Great performances throughout, portraying a wonderful screenplay. That to match with the warm color grading and bubbly soundtrack this film is one to see. With only a few flaws, Air is another valid film in Ben Affleck’s quality catalog as a director. It will go down as another quality sports film following those who didn’t particularly participate in said sport. Following in the footsteps of films such as Moneyball and Draft Day.
