The story about how the video game Tetris made its way out of Soviet Russia and into more hands than any other video game in the history of the world had everything from car chases to undercover KGB agents. Air has a pudgy Matt Damon wearing too much eyeshadow and an ironically shoeless Ben Affleck spouting inane yoga-babble.  So how does it work?

Air

How do you make a compelling movie about a simple business transaction between the mother of the greatest basketball player of all time and a piece of crap woke-as-$!t company that is rumored to have profited billions of dollars on the backs of child labor? Apparently, you assemble great talent for both sides of the camera.

Written by Alex Convery, a 30-something fella with no other writing credits or any other kind of movie credits to his name, Air is a tightly woven story with great timing, a wonderful soundtrack, and a bit too much nostalgia-porn.

Matt Damon stars as the real-life marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, who had the hunch that led to Nike landing the GOAT and making the watershed sponsorship deal that would change the world of sports branding forever. Damon gives his usual charismatic and invested performance, but the character doesn’t have much of a personal journey to make. So, while you’re rooting for him, he comes out as the same guy on the other end, just with a more secure position in the company (he’d actually be fired a decade later and start working for Adidas).

That’s fine and all. It’s not necessary for every character in a film to have a compelling backstory and deep personal trauma to overcome, but he’s the only character that gets fleshed out in the entire movie. Sure, there’s a bit tagged on 2/3 of the way in about how Sonny was gambling with the lives of the department, and we’re supposed to feel empathy, especially for Jason Bateman’s character. Unfortunately, the movie had already done a good enough job over the last hour of making us believe that the department wasn’t going to last for much longer anyway, and that the rest of the billion-dollar company would be just fine selling running shoes, that this third-act “conflict” mostly falls flat.

So, what makes Air worth watching? Because it is Worth it…if only just. It’s a combination of things.

As I said, there’s not a bad performance given, even if most aren’t noteworthy. The exception is Viola Davis, who plays Michael’s mother, Delores. She manages to subtly captivate every moment that she’s on screen, which is not very often, and she’s incredibly natural and convincing in her character’s understated self-assuredness and no-nonsense determination. Viola is an absolute chameleon who is unrecognizable from the role she’s most known for, Amanda Waller in the now-defunct and soon-to-be rebooted DCEU.

Not to be forgotten, Chris Tucker, the loud-mouth, wise-cracking funnyman from a zillion ’90s movies, makes a triumphant return as Howard White, Nike’s current VP of Marketing for the Air Jordan brand. It’s a triumphant return because Tucker manages to not only not be obnoxiously over the top but to show that he might actually be able to handle meaningful subtlety. Thanks to Air, we might just be seeing more of the serious side of Tucker.

Then there’s the real star of the show, and that’s Ben Affleck…not in his role as Nike co-founder Phil Knight. That role felt tacked on and seemed gimmicky for the sake of having Allfeck and Damon act opposite together again for the first time since 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. No, the star was Affleck behind the camera.

His pacing is perfect, and his visual storytelling kept the action moving and the audience engaged throughout. However, the opening credits did feel like the 80s threw up all over me, and Sonny’s prologue was one scene too long and far too heavy-handed. That notwithstanding, the other 90% of the film is crisp with Affleck’s signature style.

With good performances, likable characters, great music, punchy and tight dialogue, as well as excellent direction, Air is a win and worth the watch…after it’s been released on Amazon Prime. Why after? It’s not a big-screen kind of movie, and you already know how it ends. Spend your money on something that pops off the screen like The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

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