Air

Summary

“Can you summon the will to fight on, through all the pain, and rise again?”

I grew up in the Nineties. If you grew up during that time, there is only one answer to this question: Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? The answer unequivocally was Michael Jordan. He was unlike anything that we had seen before or, arguably, since. A case can be made for Lebron, but for all of us that grew up watching Jordan play, he has always been the greatest of all time. 

I like watching sports, although I tend to watch more college football and NFL football than I watch college basketball or NBA basketball. That said, in recent years I have started watching more and more basketball and have enjoyed following a few teams and players. What I love even more is watching sports documentaries on ESPN. 30 for 30 is one of my favorite television series, and my wife can attest that I weep openly while watching many of the episodes. For some reason, the stories of these athletes who train and train to become the very best in their field and overcome numerous obstacles touch me in my core. So I am probably the exact demographic which will find Ben Affleck’s newest film Air to be incredibly enjoyable. This is a unique sports film that focuses on a single aspect of Michael Jordan’s story – the birth of the Air Jordans.

Air tells the story of Nike’s basketball scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon.) In 1984, Nike was close to shutting down their basketball shoes division due to low sales. With a budget a fraction of the size of competitors Puma, Converse, and Adidas to recruit stars, Nike was losing market share every year to their competition. Marketing VP Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) and CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) task Sonny with finding a new spokesperson for Nike’s basketball shoes. Every year before, Nike has divided up their basketball marketing budget amongst numerous second tier players. Vaccaro has a big bet he wants them to take. He wants Nike to allow him to spend their entire budget in order to sign a college player named Michael Jordan. The film shows how Vaccaro worked extremely hard to sway Michael Jordan to Nike, developing a relationship with Michael’s protective parents Deloris and James (Viola Davis and Julius Tennon,) and along the way helped to create the most iconic basketball shoes of all time – the Air Jordans.

Air is one of my favorite films of this year. The script by Alex Convery hits all the right notes. Is the drama at hand predictable? Of course it is. If you have ever seen an Air Jordan basketball shoe, then the outcome is known going into the film. What sets the film apart is that the script tells the story capably and in an exciting way, and it has some truly fantastic scenes. The speech that Sonny Vaccaro gives Michael Jordan about his bright future which intercuts with actual clips of the highs and lows of Jordan’s career absolutely made me shed a tear. For fans of Michael Jordan, the film is just another good reminder of what was so special about Number 23. Ben Affleck, working with legendary cinematographer Robert Richardson, decided to never show the actor playing Michael Jordan’s face onscreen during the course of the entire film. His thought that Jordan could never convincingly be played by an actor because of how well known Jordan is to audiences was a really clever notion. By never showing Jordan’s face, we are allowed to be fully enveloped in the story of Sonny and his coworkers. If they had shown the actor’s face, it would have risked destroying the reality the the film presented and taking the audience out of the film. 

Michael Jordan himself claimed that there was only one actress that could ever play his mother and her name is Viola Davis. Jordan’s instincts could not have been better. Viola Davis is exceptional in the role of Michael’s hard negotiating mother. It was nice to see Chris Tucker performing again in the film as Sonny’s close friend Howard White. Marlon Wayans also has a nice role in the film. Having read Phil Knight’s excellent memoir Shoe Dog, I was interested to see how Ben Affleck would portray the founder of Nike. He plays the role with authority, making Knight out to be a no-bullshit type of leader who could be convinced to take big risks. Affleck allows his bold clothing choices to draw smiles from the film’s audience, while never making Phil Knight a punchline. Matt Damon is well cast as the hard working protagonist of the film Sonny Vaccaro. Damon is an immensely likable actor and he feels completely genuine as Sonny. Jason Bateman is similarly enjoyable to watch in the film as Rob Strasser, who explains to Sonny how the risks that he takes have real impacts on those around him. Chris Messina plays elite sports agent David Falk with just the right amount of lizard like cunning and bravado. Watching the interactions between such a great cast makes the film a joy to watch.

Air was the first film created by the production company Ben Affleck formed with Matt Damon called Artists Equity. It has a unique approach by aiming to share profits with all its stakeholders. Having already proven himself with his films Argo, The Town, and Gone Baby Gone, Affleck was an easy choice to direct the project. Affleck has proven time and again that he is a good director and he is smart enough to surround himself with excellent collaborators. Robert Richardson is one of the best cinematographers in the business, and this was his second time working with Affleck (the first was on Live by Night.) If Air is any indication, there is a lot to be excited for in the future from Artists Equity.

I appreciate that Warner has given the film a physical release.

Video

Air has been released onto Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p. The film was shot using digital film and Arri cameras using Panavision lenses in Redcode RAW 8K. The mastering of the film was performed digitally in 4K. Air looks fantastic. As has recently been the case with many of the studio Blu-ray releases, the film looks as good as it possibly can on the Blu-ray format. The cinematography by Robert Richardson looks great. Richardson brings the very best out of the settings in the film, making things look interesting even when most of the film takes place in offices and restaurants. I would love to see this film on the UHD format one day, since it can be streamed in 4K, but as a physical media collector I am happy to have the film in such a handsome presentation on Blu-ray. 

Audio

The DTS-HD MA Atmos track sounds fantastic. I am thankful that a number of studio releases, even those that only come to Blu-ray and not 4K, have been given Atmos tracks recently. The film is obviously dialogue heavy, but the film has lot of great songs that sound awesome in Atmos including songs by Dire Straits, Violent Femmes, Tangerine Dream, George Clinton, Run D.M.C., The Clash, and more.

Supplements:

• No special features.

Overall Scores:

Video: 5/5

Audio: 4.5/5

Supplements: 0/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Air is one of my favorite films of 2023. Ben Affleck once agin proves that he is gifted behind the camera and knows what stories he should tell. Working together with his best friend Matt Damon, they tell a exceptional business story that also has some real emotional weight. I love sports stories and I love a good business story, so this film was a perfect piece of entertainment for me. Fans of Michael Jordan should find a lot to enjoy about the film, with a standout performance by Viola Davis as Michael Jordan’s mother Deloris. The cast is fantastic and there is not a bad performance in the picture. The Blu-ray release by Warner is a bare bones affair without a digital copy or any special features, but on the merit of the film I still recommend grabbing a copy. I am certainly happy to have the film in my collection (even if I would have enjoyed a 4K UHD version to own!)