‘Air’ Tells The Story Of A Shoe
This week, I watched two movies with incredible star power and fairly weak storytelling: Air on Amazon Prime and The Mother on Netflix.
Air the blockbuster hit–or whatever the streaming equivalent is–tells the story of Nike executives, Sonny Vacarro (Matt Damon), Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), and Howard White (Chris Tucker), determined to get an endorsement deal with Michael Jordan (Damian Young) over the objections and budgetary concerns of Nike boss Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) and Jordan’s agent, David Falk (Chris Messina). Through the guidance of Deloris (Viola Davis) and James Jordon (Julius Tennon) and a lot of persistence, the Air Jordan sneaker was born. My favorite character was Peter Moore (Matthew Maher), the shoe designer.
After a very slow start, in its second act, Air finds its footing, thanks to the performances of the all-star cast. This film is a pretty standard 1980s period piece with appropriate clothing and great music, but without the cast’s talents, it would entirely flop. The chemistry between Matt Damon and Chris Messina as they spar over the phone made those scenes sizzle. Viola Davis holds the tension whenever she appears, anchoring the story without Michael Jordan’s legendary presence. In fact, as Michael Jordan, Damian Young is a glorified extra. He never shows his face, leaving the story to those around him working to make this major endorsement deal. That was the most interesting creative choice in the film.
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I do not understand how this movie got made, especially with so many big stars. I admit that I am not the target audience for a movie like Air, but my husband was a kid in Chicago in the 1990s–peak Bulls years–and when I asked him if he was interested in this story he said, and I quote, “Minimally.” Ultimately, it is a technically excellent movie with a story that I am not sure deserves this amount of time and energy, especially considering how many interesting stories have not been told by Hollywood.
In the end, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” plays as on-screen text explains the fate of all the Billionaires involved, and the tonal mismatch between a song about working-class kids coming home from Vietnam and these miserable, but very rich people highlights the major problem with Air. It is well made, but morally vacuous while pretending to be about a great achievement. Some people involved did good things, but ultimately, Air is about a shoe.
Air was written by Alex Convery and directed by Ben Affleck. It runs 1 hour 51 minutes and is rated R.
On Netflix, The Mother stars Jennifer Lopez as an assassin whose daughter, Zoe (Lucy Paez), was put into protective custody as a newborn to protect her from the big bad guy Adrian (Joseph Fiennes). When Adrian finds Zoe, The Mother has to come out of hiding to rescue her daughter and return her to her adoptive family once she takes care of her nemesis.
For the nearly two hours this movie runs, Jennifer Lopez spends about three sulking in a hoodie, her pursed lips emphasizing her perfect cheekbones. J.Lo is so ageless and fit that they use her as The Mother in the present and nearly twenty years earlier, without even changing her makeup. Never mind how grief or the stress of being an assassin might age a person, Jennifer Lopez is immortal.
I jest, but if you have seen Enough, there is no need to watch this movie. All the thrills come from Jennifer Lopez as an action star. The plot has potential, but the script executes it poorly. Lopez’s dour performance diminishes her usual charm. Joseph Fiennes is just too corny to be a good villain, even in a genre known for corny villains. The whole production verges on nonsensical. It would perhaps make a good watch in the “so bad it’s good” category, but is not quite campy enough to fit that bill either. I did, however, think the conversation in which The Mother explains to Zoe that there’s nothing she has ever eaten that did not come from violence was pretty smart writing. More of that would have been better.
The Mother was written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig and directed by Niki Caro. It runs 1 hour 55 minutes and is rated R.
On Netflix, The Mother stars Jennifer Lopez as an assassin whose daughter, Zoe (Lucy Paez), was put into protective custody as a newborn to protect her from the big bad guy Adrian (Joseph Fiennes). When Adrian finds Zoe, The Mother has to come out of hiding to rescue her daughter and return her to her adoptive family once she takes care of her nemesis.
For the nearly two hours this movie runs, Jennifer Lopez spends about three sulking in a hoodie, her pursed lips emphasizing her perfect cheekbones. J.Lo is so ageless and fit that they use her as The Mother in the present and nearly twenty years earlier, without even changing her makeup. Never mind how grief or the stress of being an assassin might age a person, Jennifer Lopez is immortal.
I jest, but if you have seen Enough, there is no need to watch this movie. All the thrills come from Jennifer Lopez as an action star. The plot has potential, but the script executes it poorly. Lopez’s dour performance diminishes her usual charm. Joseph Fiennes is just too corny to be a good villain, even in a genre known for corny villains. The whole production verges on nonsensical. It would perhaps make a good watch in the “so bad it’s good” category, but is not quite campy enough to fit that bill either. I did, however, think the conversation in which The Mother explains to Zoe that there’s nothing she has ever eaten that did not come from violence was pretty smart writing. More of that would have been better.
The Mother was written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig and directed by Niki Caro. It runs 1 hour 55 minutes and is rated R.
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