AIR movie narrates truly inspiring sports and business tales. It chronicles the collaboration of two of the biggest names in the sporting arena and the business world of the USA.
These two well-known names are the basketball legend Michael Jordan (MJ) and the top business brand Nike of the United States of America. Now both of them have gone global.
Synopsis [official] of the AIR (2023) Movie
From award-winning director Ben Affleck, this movie reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Spoilers Free review of the AIR (2023) Movie
The introduction
The screenplay of this AIR movie was selected as the Best Unproduced/Blacklist Screenplay of 2021. Then this script was originally optioned by the independent film company Mandalay Pictures. At a later date, its script landed with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who then made changes and rewrote Alex Convery’s screenplay. Soon after they joined hands with Amazon Studios to make this positive movie with a great star cast backed by a good screenplay.
So, what is this movie all about
The opening scene of this movie takes you back on a nostalgia trip with its well-placed news clippings and the popular music of that year in the 1980s. And from then on we were hooked onto it. Then we looked forward to watching this optimistic film. It has an uplifting sports and business story.
It is a real-life story about how both MJ and Nike became a team with an equitable and profitable deal, worth millions of dollars in business. We all know that the life of any budding entrepreneur is always about balancing the ‘Risk’ and ‘Reward’ payoffs. Identifying business opportunities and making the right moves.
Great ensemble cast backed by a good screenplay
In this film, Nike employee Sonny Vaccaro (splendidly played by Matt Damon) brought both MJ and Nike together, and as they say, their business partnership is a slice of sporting and business folklore. So, it becomes a ‘Win-Win’ option for the key persons involved in this business deal. And we loved both the characters – Mama Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis) as a bright lady and Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) as a sunny gentleman. To be honest, many of us want to be like them in this life.
The conclusion
We enjoyed the dramatic pace of the movie along with its amazing ensemble of actors.
This AIR movie certainly is a heartening and uplifting tale of the bygone era, a piece of history, worth watching at least a couple of times.
Ratings of the AIR (2023) Movie
| FM’s rating | 4.05/5 |
| Rotten Tomatoes ratings as of the date | 92% Tomatometer & 98% Audience Score |
| Critics Consensus / Rotten Tomatoes | A fact-based drama that no one will dunk on, Air aims to dramatize events that changed the sports world forever — and hits almost nothing but the net. |
| Audience Says / Rotten Tomatoes | Ben Affleck and a terrific cast score with Air, which is much more entertaining than any movie about a long-ago business deal has any right to be. |
Poster of the AIR (2023) Movie
Key details about the AIR (2023) Movie
| Genre | Sports, Drama |
| Age-Restrictions | A (18+) R (language) |
| Released | April 2023 |
| Writer | Alex Convery |
| Director | Ben Affleck |
| Taglines | Courting a legend. |
| Cast | Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, etc. |
| Award | Heartland Film – 2023 Winner Truly Moving Picture Award – Truly Moving Picture Award – Ben Affleck (director) |
Trailer of the AIR (2023) Movie
Focus on the bonus info. and the video link of the film
We are sharing a moving and very well-written monologue (Nike’s sales pitch) delivered by Matt Damon (as Sonny Vaccaro) in this film, although its text seems lengthy in the movies, this monologue takes only a couple of minutes. This is one lengthy monologue for an actor to deliver. And here is the link to the video of the said scene on YouTube, in case you wish to check that out.
Forget about the shoes, forget about the money. You’re going to make enough money, it’s not going to matter. Money can buy you almost anything, it can’t buy you immortality. That, you have to earn. I’m going to look you in the eyes and I’m gonna tell you the future. You were cut from your high school basketball team. You willed your way to the NBA. You’re gonna win championships.
Sonny Vaccaro addressed Michael Jordan, while pitching Nike shoes in the AIR film.
It’s an American story, and that’s why Americans are gonna love it. People are going to build you up, and God are they going to, because when you’re great and new, we love you. Man, we’ll build you up into something that doesn’t even exist. You’re going to change the fucking world. But you know what?
Once they’ve built you as high as they possibly can, they’re gonna tear you back down – it’s the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn’t exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing all day, every day. That’s how it works. And we do it again, and again, and again.
And I’m going to tell you the truth. You’re going to be attacked, betrayed, exposed and humiliated. And you’d survive that. A lot of people can climb that mountain. It’s the way down that breaks them, ’cause that’s the moment when you are truly alone. And what would you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on, through all the pain, and rise again? Who are you Michael?
That will be the defining question of your life. And I think you already know the answer, and that’s why we’re all here. A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness. We need you in these shoes not so you have meaning in your life, but so that we have meaning in ours.
Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up – except for you. You’re gonna be remembered forever, because some things are eternal.
You’re Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly.
Focus on the Matt Damon”s and Ben Affleck’s partnership
You know, Matt Damon had originally written the screenplay of Good Will Hunting for an English class at Harvard University. Years later the screenplay was made into a classic movie called “Good Will Hunting” 1997 movie. The movie was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and it won the 1998 Oscar – Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Best Original Screenplay for both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And, therefore, it will be interesting to see the fate of the AIR 2023 movies in upcoming various awards ceremonies.
The AIR movie is one of the Top Ten Hollywood Movies Of The Year 2023 So Far.
Featured Image and Poster: AIR (2023) Movie | IMDb & MGM.