With Michael Jordan flick, Ben Affleck reaches rare 'Air' as a director

Even though it was released in theaters a little over a month ago, I suspect Ben Affleck’s “Air” will get more views when it premieres on Amazon Prime this Friday. (Plus the only major opening this week is “Book Club 2.”)

Thus, it’s a good time to discuss why the film works. Moreover, it’s always a good time to talk about how Affleck is just as likely to be remembered as a great director than as a movie star.

Readers of this column will note I had some pretty harsh things to say about another streamer from a few months ago that looked at the development of a product rather than the achievements of a person. Of “Tetris,” I said: “As though we need another movie that succumbs to tacky nostalgia for the junk we consumed in the Greed is Good decade.”

On its face, a film about the development of the Air Jordan sneaker falls into the exact same territory and should be dismissed as easily. Not so fast.

Yes, the film does heap a lot of praise on Nike and its founder Phil Knight (Affleck, rocking a perm and thick beard), without much to say about sweatshops or child labor and while pumping up the company’s dubious charitable giving.

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But the film does invest quite a bit into its characters, filling their mouths with snappy dialogue and giving them sympathetic motivations. This isn’t a movie about a shoe, but about the hope and ambition the product represents.

Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) is a gambler. When he’s not playing blackjack, he’s trying to get pro athletes excited about Nike. In the early '80s, the shoe company was a distant third-place finisher behind Converse and Adidas. He sees North Carolina standout Michael Jordan (only shown in profile through the film) as an unsung phenom. Vaccaro convinces the higher-ups that his entire annual budget should be used to further a Jordan endorsement.

Never mind that Jordan isn’t interested. His agent (Chris Messina) laughs Vaccaro off the phone. So he goes directly to the Jordan family and finds a formidable force with Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis), MJ’s mother. Protective of her son and his potential, she doesn’t see Nike as a viable option, let alone a financially lucrative one.

But Vaccaro envisions not just an endorsement — rather, developing an entire line around Jordan. Even those who let him bet all of Nike’s budget can hardly believe it.

You might hardly believe the scene where Damon goes to the development director and says, “I need you to make the greatest sneaker ever” and he needs it in a few days. The man nods in agreement as though he were waiting for someone to ask this. Seems like no one had ever thought of that before!

Very cheesy, and the type of dialogue that usually sinks dramatizations like this. Where “Air” works is how it portrays the reckless abandon of its characters. People who struggled to keep their company afloat took chances that very well could have sunk everything — then watched it work. We all know it worked out in the end, but watching it still remains stressful in an entertaining way.

It's a film that captures Affleck and Damon’s spirit. After co-writing and starring in 2021’s “The Last Duel,” it’s nice to see them working together again. I mean, these two guys have the Hollywood fairytale of the past 30 years: they didn’t like the parts they got offered, so they wrote a screenplay to turn them into stars. It did and they got an Oscar for writing the script to boot. It’s quite simply amazing.

Then, with “Air,” they create a production company guaranteeing profit sharing with every cast and crew member. In and of itself, this mirrors the deal Jordan was able to work out, taking a cut out of every Air Jordan sold. Affleck and Damon’s generous management style quite literally echoes the story they are telling.

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The film works even beyond this central concept. Affleck, as a director, accomplishes a lot with casting. Damon plays earnest sincerity as well as any actor working. The audience not only believes some of his crazy ideas, but wants to see him succeed.

There’s a moment towards the end where Damon makes a pitch and I was so wrapped up in what he was saying that, when the film flash-forwards to a real tragedy in Jordan’s future, I caught myself welling up a bit. Who else could make a business presentation so emotional?

Messina and Davis should get Oscar consideration in limited screen time. But performers like Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman and Marlon Wayans also shine in support. That Affleck knows how to get the most out of an actor is perhaps his greatest strength as a director; his films do not suffer from a lack of acting Oscar nods. It’s as though Affleck still understands — after suffering from a quarter-century of stardom — that movies should be a showcase for his peers.

“Air” is far from a perfect film, but it is one that perfectly embodies Affleck’s form of optimism and his love of his craft.

James Owen is the Tribune’s film columnist. In real life, he is a lawyer and executive director of energy policy group Renew Missouri. A graduate of Drury University and the University of Kansas, he created Filmsnobs.com, where he co-hosts a podcast. He enjoyed an extended stint as an on-air film critic for KY3, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, and now regularly guests on Columbia radio station KFRU.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: With Michael Jordan flick, Ben Affleck reaches rare 'Air' as a director