'AIR' (2023). Movie Review: In Case You Doubted It, Ben Affleck Can Direct Very Well

Air is a film directed by Ben Affleck starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck himself.

With the same narrative premise as in Good Will Hunting, these two great actors return, in different ways, to join forces and give us another great film in the purest good-feeling style of the eighties.

This time, from the corporate world of Nike and from the iconic marketing campaign about the sneakers of none other than Michael Jordan.

About the movie

Some people don’t like him and others like him great, but Mr. Ben Affleck won an Oscar for Argo and here he achieves again a round film that, within its scheme, works perfectly, managing to accomplish a whole vision of the business world behind professional sports, giving entity and credibility to the characters, knowing how to execute the narrative tempos and achieving great performances (including his own).

On the technical side, also phenomenal and the merit (note that this one is not written by Affleck or Damon) is signed by Alex Convery, who knows how to find the spark of the dialogue and the structure to make everything work.

Air, beyond the captivating story it tells, has that “something” that also makes it well delivered and gives us the feeling that everything is where it should be. It is not a routine film like so many others, it is a film that manages to win over the viewer based on a job well done in script and acting.

Air does not deceive, nor does it want to be a mere eighties flashback, because it does have something to tell, and it takes it very seriously. It manages to capture a portrait not only of the American business world, but of the entire social environment, a whole era and a whole system that worked around these companies, creating dreams, illusions, and myths like Michael Jordan.

It is not a movie about Jordan, it manages not to fall into that. It is a movie about the ins and outs of the sport, a film made with full intentionality and, for what it intends, turns out to be perfect.

Whether we like him or not, this Ben Affleck married to a Jennifer Lopez knows how to direct very well.