Ben Affleck is one hell of a filmmaker. His previous credentials as a director include Gone Baby Gone (2007), The Town (2010), Argo (2012), and Live by Night (2016). Depending how you feel about Night, one could argue there isn’t a rotten apple in the bunch. While we all took notice with Gone Baby Gone, it was The Town that made me a real believer in what Affleck was doing behind the camera. It was clear he had the chops to direct on a much larger scale, and while a good actor, his most prodigious talents were sat firmly in the director’s chair.
While Argo would go on to sweep the 2012 awards precursors leading all the way up to winning Best Picture at the Oscars, The Town remains his true masterpiece as far as I am concerned. What made The Town so extraordinary was the script, adapted by Affleck with co-writers Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard from Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves. The story moved. The Town hums along at an incredible pace, thoroughly develops its characters, and meticulously balances Southie humor, dramatic flair, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and strident violence with a master’s touch. While the direction, editing, and acting are all top-notch, the screenplay is what pulls it all together. Affleck’s fifth venture, Air, manages to do what we have now come to expect from the director. Air is a tightly-knit crowd-pleaser with a hell of a story at its creamy center.
In the early ’80s, Nike was best known for their running shoes. Their basketball department was a bit of a mess, while Adidas and Converse cornered the NBA market (Nike owned a measly 17% of the share of shoe sales). Having searched for their brand-defining star player for years, talent scout and marketing whiz Sonny Vacaro (Matt Damon) bets it all on a six-foot-six shooting guard from the University of North Carolina, Michael Jordan. You might have heard of him. Air shows how a group of aspirational men and one strong-willed, intelligent mother (Viola Davis) helped revolutionize the world of sports marketing with the Air Jordan brand.
While we all know the outcome, Affleck keeps the story moving as it unfolds, allowing us to share the experience of joy of landing the next big thing. The film largely works thanks to Alex Convery’s superb script. It is a hefty story that finds humor in its large cast of peculiar characters. By giving each character depth and a space to breathe, everyone in the cast plays an essential role in the film – from Affleck as the eccentric Nike CEO, Phil Knight, to Chris Messina as the self-absorbed agent, David Falk, to Matt Maher playing the colorful shoe engineer who designed the Air Jordan, Peter Moore. The outcome is a great ensemble doing some of their best work.
One of the decisions I admire most in the film is the choice not to show Michael Jordan’s face. The actor playing the young athlete is never seen. Keeping Jordan shrouded in mystery keeps the audience focused on what this film is truly about. It is not about Michael, though his immense presence is deeply-rooted in the film, Air is about the marketing campaign partly responsible for creating the mystique and charisma behind sports’ greatest front man.
That campaign climaxes in one of the best directed, written, and acted scenes you will see this year: Damon’s boardroom speech that goes full audible, a moment inspired by the late Martin Luther King, Jr. in an earlier scene that in its moment might have felt a time-filler. Coming full circle on that bit is Air’s knock-it-out-of-the-park moment, the crowning pinnacle of the film, and the defining scene of Matt Damon’s acting career.
Full of hope and inspiration, Air is a captivating story about persistence, taking risks, and the courage to break the rules in order to dream big. Through its astonishing storytelling, Air illustrates the power of believing in yourself and your vision despite whatever odds and obstacles seem to be challenging you. Air is easily the best film of 2023 thus far, and one that will likely make many top ten lists come December. Like Woody Hayes – the legendary Ohio State football coach – once said, “It’s never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team.” That sentiment is something Affleck and Convery clearly understand – the triumph of the longshot remains the sweetest and most satisfying of all victories.
