Shane
The year was 1984.
Ronald Reagan was President of the U.S., Apple was on top of the merging computer world and a shoe company based in Oregon, U.S. called Nike was forging their way in to the Basketball courts with a 17% market share.
Up against the two dominating brands Adidas and Converse, who had the top players, Nike was settling for third or fourth best players to promote their brand.
Pop culture at the time had Run DMC fitted out in Adidas on MTV and Converse All Stars on the pro Basketball circuits.
Talent scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) had a hunch about an upcoming player, a young Michael Jordan and wanted him to be the new sports star for Nike,
But Adidas and Converse were already tempting Michael Jordan with sizeable contracts with whatever Nike could offer being matched or over stepped.
Also, Jordan didn’t like Nike all that much.
Sonny Vaccaro with his $250K budget which was meant to be spread across a couple of lower rate players decides to put all of his bets and budget on one player much to the contrary advice of Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), CEO of Nike and colleagues Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), Howard White (Chris Tucker).
After a spontaneous in person meeting with Michael Jordan’s family and a new show unlike anything ever seen on the courts before, Air Jordan was born and became one of the most successful sports shoe lines in history, also setting a precedent for how and what players that promote products are reimbursed.
Air tells the chaotic and at times drama infused story of how Nike went from third best to top of the rank all by placing everything they had one Basketball player.
A fantastic and at times humorous film, Air has the stars both on screen and depicted on the court and is a must see.
Year: 2023
Rating: M15+
Running Time: 112 MIN
Genre: Biographical
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis
Production Studio: Skydance Sports, Artists Equity, Mandalay Pictures
Distributor: Warner Bros.