Air

Grade: B

We’ve known for about 25 years that Matt Damon is one of the best at being persuasive on screen. Some of the strongest scenes in Air are when he is trying to sway, convince, or sell somebody on something. Director Ben Affleck obviously knows this too, and gives his old buddy several opportunities to do his thing.

Affleck has directed Air seemingly as a thinly-veiled love letter to the 1980s, and those who remember it well. The soundtrack is wonderful; what a collection of songs here! There’s fun dialogue about a famously misinterpreted Bruce Springsteen song. We also have Reagan, poofy hair, big glasses, Trivial Pursuit, people trying to locate the beef, and the like. But not everything about the decade was good, as the movie reminds us. The very few female characters here are either secretaries, or treated as such.

It’s 1984, and Nike is struggling to keep up with the Jonses – namely Adidas and Converse. Nike employee Sonny Vaccaro has a crazy, risky idea of bringing Michael Jordan to the company (and naming a shoe after him). Snagging him would take some incredible talking, but as good fortune would have it, Damon is playing Sonny. Director Affleck has a supporting role as Nike’s CEO, but mainly lets the other actors have the focus. Chris Tucker has calmed down a bit with age; he’s not quite the high-pitched fast-talker we loved in Money Talks and the Rush Hour movies, but he has some fun stuff. Viola Davis gives one of her best performances (in a filmography that already has some superb ones) as Deloris Jordan, Michael’s mother. In a very interesting choice, we barely see Michael Jordan, and I think the character only says one word in the film. But it’s effective. By obscuring him and making him elusive, it elevates the legend. His power is in his mystery, like one of those things that becomes a thing just because you don’t see it.

Air takes a while to get off the ground. I didn’t think I was going to like it. Its first half hour felt like a game with no points on the board, where all that’s happening is the teams are preventing each other from scoring. But once it gets cooking, there’s great stuff. My favorite scene was the meeting at Nike with the Jordans, where the infamous offer is brought to the table. It’s funny, gripping, inspirational, and is where Affleck and his team realize their magic. Air does end up flying. I didn’t even mind the post-movie captions too much.

Grade: B