Air (15)
Directed by Ben Affleck
 

WITH an annual reported turnover of more than $50 billion it is hard to believe that Nike were ever the underdogs but that is the case in this extraordinary story about a shoe, the Air Jordan, which would revolutionise both the world of sport and modern culture. 

Set in 1984, the film, directed by Ben Affleck and written by first time screenwriter Alex Convery, follows Nike’s sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (a phenomenal Matt Damon) as he put his career on the line to sign up a then rookie Michael Jordan to the fledgeling basketball division of Nike which was struggling against Adidas and Converse. The idea was for them to create a shoe and a line of footwear especially for Jordan in the first branding of its kind. It was a big gamble and the rest, as they say, is history. 

His mother Deloris Jordan, portrayed superlatively by Viola Davis (who the real life Jordan suggested for the part) plays a pivotal role in the tale as, like Vaccaro, she knew her son’s worth and his future greatness and fought for the best deal possible, calling for him to have a percentage of the sales in a trailblazing move. “A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it,” she tells Vaccaro. 

Even though you know the outcome this still proves a nail-biting race against time in the will-he-or-won’t-he land the deal and get the sneaker made. With powerhouse performances from Damon and Davis as well as the A-list supporting cast, which includes Affleck as the boss and founder of Nike, Jason Bateman, this is a surprisingly entertaining yet gripping and poignant drama. 

It is also a wonderful love letter to the 1980s, with a nostalgic montage at the beginning punctuated with a cracking eighties soundtrack throughout, and advice to canny mothers everywhere. Jordan would have been content with a mere $250,000 contract and a red Mercedes but mother knew best, and this set a precedent for athletes to come. 

Although the percentage is never disclosed, Jordan apparently earns $400 million a year from the Air Jordan line. 

Although this is an awe-inspiring tale, it is hard to reconcile who and what you are rooting for in what is ultimately a story about marketing a very expensive shoe.

If, as David Yearsley suggested in Wednesday’s edition of the Morning Star, US film is about the projection of US power, this is a feature-length ad, marketing that is marketing US marketing power.

Out in cinemas on Friday.