In 1984, Michael Jordan was the third pick in the NBA Draft for the Chicago Bulls and the Nike Basketball division was failing. Nike being a long time success with running shoes was a failure in establishing success in other sports. This is the true story about how Nike won Michael Jordan over and created the first shoe that was designed for the player, called “Air Jordan’s”.
Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), sports marketing representative and shoe salesman, comes up with the idea to sign Michael Jordan (Damian Delano Young) to a shoe deal that would design the shoe around the athlete. Needing support from other managers, such as Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), advertising manager and Howard White (Chris Tucker), Field Representative Manager responsible for Nike’s Eastern NBA Clients, to help him convince Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), CEO of Nike to sign Michael to an exclusive deal.
Without support from David Falk (Chris Messina), Michael Jordan’s Agent, Sonny must try and convince the family to see his vision for Michael’s future. After contacting Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis), Michael’s Mother and main negotiator and James Jordan (Julius Tennon), Michael’s Father, things start to look up for him. When he contacts Peter Morre (Matthew Maher), Shoe designer and creator who comes up with the name “Air Jordan”, they discover a plan that may just give them the greatest basketball player of all-time the most unbelievable shoe deal ever made.
Director Ben Affleck does a fantastic job putting together the history of how Nike became the leader in the basketball shoes industry. With Affleck putting together an all star cast, he brought this story to life and successfully entertained the audience. Their performance was spectacular and helped build this adventurous exploration on how Nike turned their failing basketball shoe business into the success they have today.
Understanding the origins of the self made company from Beaverton, Oregon, Nike has grown from just being a running shoe to now expanding and becoming the ultimate basketball shoe as well. Experiencing the journey these characters all had to endure shows us all how hard you must work to achieve the goals you want to accomplish and to gain the success we all want to reach.
Final Comment: I based my grade on excellent storyline and wonderful performance by the cast.
Stars 4 out of 5
Additional Film Information
Cast: Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina, Julius Tennon, Chris Tucker, Matthew Maher, Viola Davis, Marlon Wayans, and Jay Mohr.
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Genre: Drama, Sports
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout
Running Time: 1 hour and 52 minutes
Release Date: April 5, 2023
Distributed By: Warner Bros.
Release In: Standard, and Dolby Digital.