The new feature length movie about Michael Jordan doesn’t actually include Michael Jordan, much in the same way audiences barely saw the giant fish in "Jaws."
Director Ben Affleck and his buddy Matt Damon have teamed up again, this time to fill up a bathtub of nostalgia on the ‘80s, and the creation of the most transformative athlete of the last 40 years with the new movie, “AIR.”
When it comes to the Greatest of All Time debates, i.e. Jordan v. Kobe, Jordan v. LeBron, there is one reason why MJ wins. This movie settles a debate that has no actual scoreboard.
Jordan’s presence combined with Nike’s ambition and creativity created a level of wealth, power and fame every pro athlete who came after him enjoys today.
What we see today was going to happen throughout sports, but Jordan is the point man.
“AIR” tells the story why everybody wanted, and still wants, to be like Mike. His contract with Nike, and the ensuing growth of the Jordan shoe and “Jumpman” line, changed sports.
He empowered athletes to beyond just that of a shoe representatives, but to control their own brand and to become multi-brand, multi-media global figures worth billions.
“AIR” hits theaters this week. Audiences will enjoy a dialogue-heavy film that feels like it could have been written by Aaron Sorkin. Lots of back-and-forth banter and conflict between real life characters, notably Nike founder Phil Knight, his associate Sonny Vaccaro, and not Michael Jordan but rather Michael Jordan’s mother.
This is a hard movie to make entertaining; you know how it all ends before the film starts. The ensemble of Affleck, Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Chris Tucker do pull it off.
If you are expecting basketball action, and lots of MJ highlights, don’t.
If you are expecting a mostly accurate Hollywood history lesson on Nike and its courtship of Jordan, complete with a soundtrack loaded with ‘80s hits, you'll have a nice night out.
(Affleck deserves a shoutout for adding some of the instrumental soundtrack from the Tom Cruise ‘83 hit movie, “Risky Business”).
“Is the movie truthful? It’s a 9.5 or 9,” Vaccaro said in a recent phone interview from his home in California. The movie is really more about Vaccaro, the pioneering shoe representative who worked his way up from nothing to become one of the most successful men in a business model he helped to create.
Vaccaro is the one who was the key figure in Nike’s pursuit of Jordan to sign a contract with the company not long after he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984.
“Those conversations (in the movie) happened. There is nothing in there that I can’t relate to that’s a lie,” Vaccaro said. “I love the movie. There is nothing wrong with anything other than some of the scenes weren’t in the order they were shown.”
Jordan is notoriously particular, protective, and anal, about anything that has to do with his image. He’s not exactly a fan of anything remotely critical; ask Charles Barkley.
Jordan had all editorial content control over the popular documentary, “The Last Dance,” which is why it was more of a “Jumpman” commercial than a traditional documentary.
Affleck said in a virtual press conference last week he met with Jordan, who essentially gave him his blessing to pursue the project. Affleck didn’t need Jordan’s permission, but he said had Jordan said please don’t do it, he would have dropped it.
This is a fan-boy movie for Michael Jordan fans.
Much like with “The Last Dance,” there is nothing remotely negative in “AIR” about Jordan. Or his parents, and specifically his mother who was the engineer of her son’s decision to sign a contract with Nike when the company was known for its running shoes more than anything else.
When the company was well behind Converse and Adidas. When the company was still in its infancy, when no one had a clue who Phil Knight was, or why he put a corporate headquarters in western Oregon.
When Jordan was nowhere near a GOAT debate.
Vaccaro, who is one of the bigger reasons why the NCAA ultimately lost in court and eventually succumbed to the pressure of student athletes being paid, was there for all of it.
Long before ensuing generations of players enjoyed the benefits of Jordan’s popularity. Long before ensuing generations of fans only know Jordan through highlights, shoes, and a cool logo.
“I spent nine years with Michael; I toured the world with him,” Vaccaro said. “He was just that sure of himself. The part that Michael couldn’t believe was that other people couldn’t believe he was this good.”
It’s true.
Michael Jordan was once the third pick in the NBA draft.
Today, he remains bigger than most active players even though he last played in an NBA game in 2003.
All of these decades later, Michael Jordan is the now “star” of a major Hollywood movie where no one actually sees him.
