Normal 0 21 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow: yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size: 10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”;}
Maybe only a few die-hard fans of Lebron James will disagree, but Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Perhaps the greatest and best American athlete of all time, Jordan is more than an athlete. He is a brand. Mr. Air. Air Jordan. So even though the entire story of the movie that reunited Ben Affleck and Matt Damon revolves around Jordan and he is constantly mentioned and in the center of attention, we practically don’t see him here. Although “Air” is described as a biographical sports drama, it is more of a corporate drama about the American mindset, way of thinking and functioning, and the risks that usually have to be taken to achieve something historic.
I’m ready to bet my career on Jordan, says Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), a scat in Nike’s basketball department, somewhere in the first part of the film. The year is 1984 and the NBA draft is set, and leading sports corporations like Converse and Adidas have already arranged sneaker sponsorships with players they consider to be the greatest talents. Nike is a complete outsider. It was a time when running shoes were the hottest, and the basketball sector was only a minor part of their business. As we know today, all that changed with Jordan, and in the extremely dynamic, energetic and entertaining film directed by Affleck based on Alex Convery’s script, we see how it happened.
The very topic of the film, i.e. the struggle of sports corporations to sign a sponsorship with one of the biggest basketball talents, may not sound like something overly cinematic, but “Air” was a pleasant surprise. The spirit of the 80s is brilliantly evoked here, Damon is excellent as the guy convinced that Jordan is the one with whom everything will change and who will change the superiors in the company, primarily CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) and head of marketing Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman). But the most difficult of all will be his vision and what he wants to pass on to Mrs. Jordan and Michael’s mom Deloris (Viola Davis). This approach turned out to be extremely good because we know almost all the details about Jordan’s life anyway, and “Air” was a movie that has all the best of Hollywood, although the naysayers will say that it’s just a two-hour commercial for Nike.