Air

When creating a movie which is concerned with a real event, you must make a number of considerations. How well known is the event? Does the general public know the details, or only the broad strokes? What about the people involved: are they known figures? What are the hooks which you can use to forge drama? The answer to these questions should dramatically shape how you present the story. For example, no need to waste a bunch of time explaining who someone is when they’re universally known.

But for events with well-known outcomes, there’s an especially tough line to walk. You can’t rely on tension coming from the result being in question: most of your audience will know what happened. Instead, you need to find a way to make how it happened interesting. Ideally, you’ll find smaller, less well-known details that can serve as the focus for your tension, to keep your audience enraptured even when the outcome is known.

We find Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) frustrated at the Nike basketball division’s lack of success. He views it as a lack of commitment from the rest of the company, and a lack of ambition (or basketball knowledge) from his teammates. So he comes up with a bold plan: swoop in and charm newly drafted rookie Michael Jordan away from the forgone conclusion of his Adidas contract. And stop at nothing to land it, risking the jobs and livelihoods of himself and his co-workers.

This is a film that is quite laser-focused. There isn’t really a B-plot to speak of, and we get spare glimpses of Sonny’s personal life. Everything on screen is directly related Sonny pursuing the deal with Jordan, or else leading him to decide that’s the way to save the basketball division. There is no fat on this thing.

But that’s the issue; to torture the cliche a bit, a good steak needs some fat. It fills out the steak, makes for a more complex and satisfying flavor, and actually enhances the meat.

We get very little character detail on Sonny, and what we do get is inconsequential. We get a drop here and there on others, some through what’s on screen, but most through exposition. Howard’s basketball past, Rob’s family situation, Phil’s beginnings as a hustler. But we never live in it, never see how these men are shaped by their experiences, and mostly aren’t given a chance to empathize with them. Most of the characters feel like cardboard cutouts as a result, even as the actors are giving good performances.

It’s also got an issue knowing which moments really deserve emphasis by a dramatic sound queue. To some degree, it’s understandable; the natural moments are also ones where the audience is ahead of the movie just because we live in its future, like Sonny’s speech “projecting” Jordan’s future accomplishments.

That’s all just looking at its merits as a movie. But then there’s the most obnoxious aspect: it’s just a two-hour commercial for Nike.

Yeah yeah, I know: “That’s such a boring, common criticism. It delivered on exactly what the trailer promised! And it even criticized Nike some!”

I agree, a two hour excuse to celebrate Nike is basically what we were sold. But just because the advertising told us doesn’t make it good. They went so far out of their way to pat themselves on the back, and did so frequently, to the point I started laughing each time at the sheer audacity. At least try to hide it! But it was so blatant as to be obnoxious.

And the criticisms levied at Nike were weak. What, they weren’t taking enough risks? Really biting. Meanwhile, there was the lightest acknowledgement of its use of sweatshops, and none of the more recent allegations their factories use forced labor.

I don’t know how involved Nike was with the production of the film. It would seem deeply, given the extensive use of their logos and terminology and people and such. And I’d be floored to learn they had nothing to do with the script. It’s so damn self-congratulatory. Not to mention the dissonance of asking us to root for what is today a multi-billion dollar company, the dominant player in footwear. They’re weren’t a juggernaut in 1984, true. But the movie just seems to assume us learning they were third largest at the time is enough for us to root for them. Little work is done to make us feel what that means or why we should care; we just should.

Alright, so what worked about this movie? Chris Messina was excellent as always. He so effortlessly plays an over the top asshole, and is just a delight to watch. It was great seeing Chris Tucker again, as this was his first non-documentary role since 2016. And Viola Davis was great in the handful of scenes she was given.

What about the actor who played Michael Jordan. Funny you should ask…

Jordan (Damian Young) is technically in the film, but we never see his face. He always has his back to us, or else is behind another character. And he says almost nothing. Just “Bulls colors.” and “Hello”. He’s probably on screen for a total of 2 minutes? Which is wild for a movie that centers around his greatness, and is only possible because of his stature. It also robs the film of landing some really dramatic moments, such as

As you can see, there’s not much that really landed for me. It’s a bland, boring drama that has nothing interesting to say and does so with very little flare. It’s competent enough to be completely forgettable. Although I wonder if we’ll be hearing more about it come awards time…