Air

Ben Affleck’s latest directorial pursuit sees him at the helm of a corporate biopic, Air, which is ostensibly a movie about shoe giant Nike, but winds up being more about America as a whole. The film focuses on Nike’s marketing scheme to sign a deal with soon-to-be legendary basketball player, Michael Jordan, in 1984.

At first, we follow Sonny Vaccaro, played by Ben’s bestie Matt Damon, as he tries to figure out what piece of the upcoming draft market is available for Nike to endorse. In 1984, Nike lags behind Converse and Adidas, who control more than 80% of the basketball shoe market. Vaccaro and his colleague, Rob Strasser, played by Jason Bateman, have disagreements about which direction to go. Only allotted $250,000 by CEO Phil Knight, played by Affleck, they can’t decide who should get the money. Strasser believes they should spread it out amongst numerous incoming rookies; Vaccaro wants to go big or go home and offer the entire $250K to one man: Michael Jordan. Jordan, for his part, is uninterested in dealing with Nike. This is the era of Run-DMC and “My Adidas,” all of which are existing side by side with the Converse All Stars line and its existing contracts with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Vaccaro is a basketball guru and gambler at heart. He spends a lot of time in Vegas trying the odds and decides that if he can’t win the big one for his company, then he’s done playing.

The universe the eventual pitch takes place in is the epitome of 1980s America. The film opens with a newsreel of classic Americana from the decade: Reagan delivering his “welfare queen” speech, Hulk Hogan clotheslining Randy Savage, all the while big bodied steel sedans ride the streets. Affleck’s period piece pulls heavily from the aesthetic already made famous in HBO’s Winning Time, utilizing grainy film footage from the time period alongside recreating some of the behind the scenes interactions taking place in the basketball world. Unsurprisingly, Affleck and Damon’s chemistry is on point. Working together so closely for the last 3 decades has made them each other’s greatest on-screen ally. They elevate each other in every scene they share together, and in Air, there are many.

As far as direction goes, Affleck is unflinching. Many will remember his emotional, Best Picture-winning historical drama Argo as one of his best works. This is a much less serious movie, but each scene carries its own weight and the severity of the situation the Nike employees are put in as they try to save their company’s reputation are shown with legitimate drama and concern. When Vaccaro, Strasser and designer Peter Moore, played by Matthew Maher, finally come up with the Air Jordan red and black mid top design we have come to know and love, they decide the best way to pitch the idea would to be to contact the decision maker directly, which turns out to be none other than Deloris Jordan, played by Viola Davis.

Davis plays the mother of a star with great care and affection. She only wants what is best for her son and her vulnerability and love is felt through the camera. Jordan himself is never shown directly on screen. Well, at least his face isn’t. Whichever actor is playing Jordan, who is uncredited also, is usually just a peripheral side character in each scene that he appears in. He noses around the Nike building, upset his mother has brought him there and shows little interest at all.

Vaccaro’s in person visit to Deloris Jordan wins her over. His boldness and candor in predicting the pitches of Converse and Adidas earns her respect. Very important to the deal in his own right, is Howard White, played by Chris Tucker, who immediately connects with the Jordan family. He would later go on to lead the Air Jordan brand. All of this leads up to a very emotional pitch, which plays out over another newsreel montage, this time of Jordan’s ups and downs as a professional athlete. Vaccaro turns to him and says that America will build him up, only to tear him down, and asks if he is ready for true immortality. When he starts to say that it won’t be easy, that hardship will come to him, the screen shifts to shots of news clips of James Jordan’s 1993 death, Michael struggling with the Chicago White Sox, and his eventual return to the NBA.

Despite this Vaccaro reminds him: “You’re an American story and America is going to love it.” Triumphal scenes play out, Jordan’s series-winning shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989, his eventual visits to the White House, him holding up his NBA Finals MVP trophies and smoking a big cigar, everything is there. The room turns silent and Jordan’s agent, the ruthless David Falk, expertly portrayed by Chris Messina, promises they will be in touch. Damon as Vaccaro doesn’t look like Don Draper, but he is just as convincing. He wants to win so badly, that he is willing to risk everything.

Air is a film that loves to show the struggle that businessmen have to engage with in order to win. It’s the DNA in Michael Jordan’s unrepentant dominance that is also present in Vaccaro’s veins. Their shared programming allows both men to succeed. Of course we know what happened already, but seeing Jordan and his trademark shoe’s success up on the big screen is magical. Nike eventually buys Converse and makes billions with Air Jordan. In some ways, it’s a win for the little (figuratively, of course) guy too, since Michael Jordan is the first player to receive percentage points on each shoe sold that bears his name. This turns into a passive income of over $400 million a year for the GOAT, and sets up a business model that will fairly reward athletes for years to come.

All of this high business drama plays out perfectly amidst a great soundtrack of 1980s hits. “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger holds a special place in the film, as well as Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” Affleck adorns himself in neon tracksuits and stunner shades while he mills over the tough decisions at the biggest running shoe company in the nation. By the end of the film, Nike is the biggest basketball shoe company in the world, taking over the market with winners like Vaccaro and Michael Jordan.

Owing to its phenomenal performances as well as the colorful 1980s world-building that places the viewer into one of the most American times ever, Air flys high above other corporate biopics. It has something those other movies don’t: emotion. You want Nike to win in this film because of what it means for America and the nostalgia of our past is too much to resist. Air Jordans are so ingrained into our culture, that an origin story for them would have been a popular movie by any director. But Affleck makes it a good movie and that’s the difference here. It’s a simple premise and a story that most of us know the outcome to, but Air is a distinctly American story about the heart of America itself: succeeding. As the film closes and the post script plays out on the screen, describing to us the various levels of success the above mentioned characters go on to in their later lives, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” booms out over the theater’s loudspeakers. What could be better?