Movie Review: Air

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent film based off a true-life story.

Despite being someone who has never watched a basketball game in my life, I find myself often completely engrossed by this movie. Probably one reason why this film appealed to me so much is that we see little actual basketball here. This is instead a story about a shoe company wanting to create a shoe for Michael Jordan (I do know who he is because I have seen Space Jam). This gives this film a freshness and something that sets it apart from other sports films. It is also simply a compelling story. This movie takes exactly what so many people love to see in sports films and translates it to a different part of the sports world. That is that this is very much the type of underdog story that will always be appealing to movie audiences. The idea of a company risking everything on a rookie, who has yet to become a major name, is simply an incredibly appealing storyline. This movie tells that story very well. Much of this is due to how it makes us automatically sympathize with and root for our main character. We like this guy and want to see him be successful. This is only helped by a wonderful performance from Matt Damon, who is at his most fun and charming here. Also wonderful in this cast is Voila Davis as Michael Jordan's mom. Though her character does not receive a lot of screen time, she steals every scene she is in. She also provides a lot of heart and charm to this movie, that make the dramatic moments so great. This film also benefits from a great sense of energy that is even clear in the most dialogue heavy scenes. This energy shows itself through much of the film and keeps it always moving at a fast pace. In fact, the near two hours of this movie simply fly by. Throughout the majority of the movie, I simply had a lot of fun watching. This is especially true with a wonderful sense of humor that had me laughing out loud quite a few times. 

Unfortunately, this movie has the fault that is true in many movies based off true stories and that is that we always know how the story is going to end. There have been a few movies that make you forget that you know how the story will end, but that is the exception rather than the rule. In this film, you always remember that you know how the film will end taking away any true feeling of suspense. There are also some side characters here that are two over the top and cartoonish, and they simply feel out of place in a movie based on a true story. While a lot of the dialogue between the characters is fantastic, this does not translate to the moments when a character stops to make some sort of speech. These speeches feel quite corny and out of place.

All in all, this is an excellent film.