Refreshing “Air”
Going into “Air” was a comfortable sense that Affleck and Damon were going to deliver the goods. I wasn’t expecting “Good Will Hunting” or “The Last Duel”. For that matter, I was pretty sure the closest I’d get in tone might be “Ford v. Ferrari” and while that film is masterful and entertaining, “Air” is likewise, in its own way the result of one of the more solid collaborations in Hollywood and it is certainly entertaining.
We know how the story is going to end, Nike is going to be the almost exclusive brand of the NBA, Michael Jordan is going to become, of course, the Michael Jordan, and so associated with the brand as to be synonymous. Of course, it’s all in the telling and the film clocks in at an efficient hour and fifty or so with one of the most 80s of set design.
The film is so 1984 (the year, not the Orwell) that when we first see Damon as Sonny Vaccaro in high school, the initial texture of the degraded colorization (footage was transferred to, get this, thirty years old - or more? - beta cam videotape), you could be forgiven for thinking the film itself is a forty year artifact.
Damon is the film’s lead and once again, does what he does best; gives himself over to the character and the work at hand. He wears prosthetics to inhabit the body of a middle age guy but the fat suit isn’t distracting; you simply don’t see Matt Damon movie star here. Actually, it’s rare that I’ve ever seen in him onscreen and he’s registered as “Matt Damon, movie star”. Yeah, I know he is one, but all I ever see is one of our finest actors, capable of delivering the goods, immensely free of acting tics and for one example, someone who could share the screen with Christian Bale and be an equally compelling presence. (This is unfair to Bale; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him overshadow a scene partner - it’s just that very often, Bale brings a natural intensity that draws the attention to what he’s doing.)
Of course, it’s not Damon’s whole show. Justin Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis are all on hand delivering these fully human performances buttressed by a throughline of wit throughout. Oh, and Affleck once again turns in a superb supporting character role. I don’t remember who said it originally, but around the time “Extract” came out, I recall reading (maybe it was Ebert?) that Ben Affleck is a great character trapped in a leading man’s body. I think his entire career bears this out. This isn’t to say that Affleck hasn’t been good in some leads, but for the most part, he’s far more interesting as part of an ensemble. Perhaps not being the focal point of a film frees him up to take more risks or hone a character more. Whatever the case, he turns in stellar work.
Viola Davis plays Michael Jordan’s mother, Deloris and let’s face it, it’s Viola Davis. Her scenes with Damon are delicious and I swear she could recite actuarial tables and I’d be enthralled. At no point does she overplay, at no point does she exaggerate the gravity of a mother looking out for her insanely talented son. But you can tell that Deloris knows that Vaccaro sees in her son what she sees; they both know what he can do. What he will do.
Affleck plays Phil Knight, founder and CEO of Nike who doesn’t seem to know why he keeps Vaccaro around. Sonny was brought on to build up Nike’s basketball division and find a new spokesperson for the brand. He sees young Michael playing and recognizes him as a once in a lifetime athlete. To say that Knight doesn’t agree with Vaccaro’s aim that by obtaining Michael Jordan (a rookie, for Pete’s sake!) as spokesman and so closely identifying him with Nike that the two would build each other over time, is an understatement. Vaccaro is allotted a quarter of a million dollar budget to make this happen and Nike’s board is even less convinced.
Of course, that doesn’t daunt Vaccaro. He goes beyond backs and over heads and contacts Deloris directly. Nike will give Michael full attention, more than what his faves Adidas and Converse would. They will nurture the relationship and design a shoe specifically for him. He also learns that Adidas matched Nike’s offer and through in a Mercedes Benz 380SL. This is after Sonny had told Deloris to the word what the Adidas and Converse execs were going to say. Knight signed off on Sonny’s using the whole $250,000, by the way, and after hearing about. Even though Sonny is convinced Michael is going to accept Adidas’ offer, he elects to go with Nike on the condition that he earns a percentage of every Air Jordan sold. This was unheard of at the time and Vaccaro is convinced that the Nike execs won’t accept that as a term and the deal is dead. Phil sees it as a necessary part of the deal to get Jordan’s endorsement. It obviously worked out well for Michael: he earned $162 million in one year and it’s been a steady revenue stream for ever since.
Along the way, we get these wonderful, organic performances from Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser who may lose it all if the basketball division gets let go because the deal tanks, Pegter Moore, played by Matthew Maher, is the shoe designer who added the silhouette of Jordan and boldly introduced red into the color scheme (against NBA restrictions and incurring fines that Nike agreed to pay…and likely, by doing so, changed those rules) who has waited for a long time to do this. Jordan’s agent, Chris Messina turning in a career best as David Falk (he doesn’t have friends, only clients, and when he sells his company, he insists he will be dining alone - this apparently, was the case) is by turns, oily and reptilian, and lord knows vitriolic (his reaming of Vaccaro at one point is poetry).
To the film’s credit, we don’t see Michael himself except from the back or obliquely. This makes his presence and who he is and will become more real, more substantial. It’s a solid choice in a film full of them.
“Air” is a clever entertainment in the best sense of both words. It is a well-told tale with no fat on the bones and a nice middle of the road approach. Affleck’s direction is so sure and confident here. He’s proven himself to be one of Hollywood’s stronger helmsman and an extremely able craftsman. Since “Gone Baby Gone”, I’ve looked forward to each of his efforts and for the most part, he hasn’t disappointed (full disclosure: I have not seen “Live by Night” and despite lackluster reviews, I’m still interested).
Interestingly, owing to the Writers Guild of America’s guidelines where directors cannot - as a rule (there may be exceptions) - be credited for work that didn’t originate with them, and because Damon and Affleck are a writing team, neither receive screenplay credits. The general understanding is that they substantially rewrote Alex Convery’s script which was well received already, having been the Best Unproduced Script/Blacklist Screenplay of 2021. I’d be curious to know what changes were made and why.
It’s also a spiffy looking movie, owing to Robert Richardson’s work as Director of Photography. He’s been just about everyone’s preferred DP at one time or another (Oliver Stone, Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielberg all come readily to mind) and here, the camera moves smoothly from scene to scene in a quiet dynamism. Between Richardson’s work and William Goldenberg’s editing, no scene overstays its welcome while giving the characters plenty of room to breathe.
And of course, it’s got a bitchin’ soundtrack. Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” opens the film and it just goes up from there. For a second, I was half expecting to watch a couple of hours of vintage 80s music videos! Not that I would have minded, but I’m happy with the film we have. I was tickled at how one of the characters remarks that “Born in the USA” is actually a very dark song and that transported me back to when Reagan and the Republicans attempted to co-opt it as a patriotic anthem about America’s greatness. They obviously didn’t pay a lick of attention to the lyrics.
To say “Air” is satisfying is an understatement. It’s a full of expert character turns and performances, buzzes along with nary a bump, and scores thematic points along the way without an ounce of distracting emphasis. Despite being a smaller, more intimate film, it’s worth seeing on the big screen (as, frankly, all movies are).
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