Ben Affleck’s “Air” gets released tomorrow. Critics are pushing it to succeed, that’s for sure — a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 79 on Metacritic.
“Air” tells the story of the rise of Nike in the ‘80s thanks to its partnership with then-rookie Michael Jordan. Matt Damon is Sonny Vaccaro a vehement pursuer of Jordan’s, he wants to sign 18-year-old MJ to a lucrative contract and give him his own shoe line.
I liked the film when I reviewed it on 03.28.23. It’s a perfectly serviceable effort from Affleck, what you might call the quintessential “dad movie.” Of course, we all know how the story ends, and the anticlimactic nature of “Air” does do it a disservice. The energy in watching this underdog story comes more in learning how it all went down. The setup is excellent.
Shot by Affleck, with a lower budget than he’s been used to, there is infectious energy in the way the camera moves through the frames, even when the film doesn’t necessarily break any storytelling ground and would rather adhere to its by-the-books, but winning, formula. The ‘80s production design also is immersive enough that you tend to forget the predictability of the whole thing.
It’ll be interesting to see how Amazon, not the best of awards campaigner, positions “Air” for next year’s awards season. They don’t lack the money and resources to pull off a proper campaign, that’s for sure. Will “Air” be their top priority? I don’t see any other Amazon titles emerging this year with as much potential.
Then again, you already have pundits trying to tell us that this could be the “next EEAAO,” since it’s being released the same month as this past March’s Best Picture winner and premiered at the same festival (SXSW). I don’t buy it and neither should you.
It’s been, so far, a very mediocre year for good American movies, so when a more-than-decent one like “Air” gets released then the automatic, and obvious reaction, must be to overpraise it. Don’t take the bait.
Yes, we’re almost 1/4 of the way done in the movie year, but the summer and fall movie slates looks very stacked. I just can’t imagine people still talking about ”Air” in December — maybe a Screenplay nomination is doable. Ditto Viola Davis in the Supporting Actress category.
For “Air” to truly make a dent in next year‘s Best Picture race it’ll have to overperform at the box-office. Big numbers will make it stay in the conversation, otherwise, it’ll probably be forgotten a few months from now.
The current projection has “Air” opening with a 5-day tally between $15-$18 million.