Air 2023
I like movies about great moments in corporate history, seeing visionaries at work and what it takes for them to produce new things that change everything. I am not really that into basketball or sneakers, but the story of the Air Jordan is amazing, not least for what those shoes, used, can fetch at auction. I ran track in the early 1980's, so I remember Nike coming onto the scene in a big way. And I was in college as Michael Jordan became a basketball superstar, including his special shoe, the Air Jordan by Nike. It was fun seeing this story come to life, but it is also a little underwhelming. Nike was a big name already in running shoes and sneakers, but had a fairly small share of the basketball shoe market. They were actually losing money and didn't have a lot to put into basketball sponsorships. One guy, played here by Matt Damon, bets his entire career, and really the career of everyone in his department that deals with basketball shoes, on a rookie who had yet to play an NBA game, Michael Jordan. It is amazing to hear that his entire sponsorship budget was only $250,000 per year. Sports and apparel have come a long way since, which is part of what this movie is about. But mostly the movie tells this fairly small story of how one committed guy is able to talk the head of Nike, Phil Knight, into pursuing Jordan, and then pursuing Jordan, who is about to sign with Adidas.
It is a promising setup, but the story is a little lackluster as it is presented here, and then it is overly padded with other stuff (a few scenes at the end seem tacked on). At the same time, it kind of lacks in any kind of real character development, though there are a lot of characters to weave in (except for Jordan himself, who essentially has no part in the movie). Viola Davis, as Jordan's mother, has a more substantial role and is very good, but she isn't the one on the shoe. Jordan's agent has one particuarly good scene as he erupts with profanity at Nike's representative. Matt Damon does a good job as that representative and offers a great sales pitch. Ben Affleck seems to struggle a little with his role as Phil Knight, kind of aimless and indecisive. Ultimately, what we are celebrating is how much money a giant corporation and a star athlete are able to make and how great it is that the star athlete in question is still raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The real success of the shoe and Jordan is only realized at the very end of the movie as sort of an epilogue.
Written: 28 Apr 2023