Air

Affleck’s diamond-studded comedic timing and commitment to telling a compelling story well give it oomph.

Air is a quick-paced entertainer with glib dialogue, humour and a wonderful sense of nostalgia for the 1980s.

Once you’ve made peace with those really narrow parameters, what you see on screen – ie virtually nothing of Jordan himself – kind of works.

There’s not an ounce of fat on this film’s physique, and Affleck keeps the pace moving even though everything that’s happening is entirely driven by the dialogue.

Affleck is a fine actor and a better-than-fine director. As an actor since childhood, his skill at selecting the right actors and allowing them to do their best is to be expected. He also has an exceptional sense of narrative structure.

Affleck, the cast, crew and script put you in a time capsule and take you back to the ’80s.

If you’re like me and think that a shoe is a shoe is a shoe ... then Air will probably come across as either painfully pretentious or hilariously melodramatic.

Gathering together an embarrassment of behind and in-front-of-the-camera talent, Ben Affleck uses earnest thematic depth and strong period detail to turn a story about a business deal into something much more poignant.

The dynamic rhythm and the accurate direction of Ben Affleck, together with the good balance between humor and emotion, produce an entertaining work. The film manages to portray in detail the period climate of the '80s, mainly thanks to its setting.

Air grippingly examines not just the race to secure Jordan, but it fundamentally understands what it was about both the man and the brand that was so appealing.