Ben Affleck and Matt Damon set out to change Nike forever in the new trailer for Air. MGM released the trailer for the new film, which Affleck also directed, which is due out later this year.
The upcoming period drama is due out in theaters later this April. Check it out below:
MATT DAMON & BEN AFFLECK STAR IN A FILM ABOUT NIKE CREATING THE AIR JORDANS
All of my friends will tell you that I’m not the most knowledgeable guy out there in sports, but I’m a big fan of Ben Affleck behind and in front of the camera. It looks like the story will be framed as an inspirational biopic (always a good bet) and with a starry cast like this (Affleck, Matt Damon, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman, and Viola Davis), the film should get attract plenty of attention.
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Affleck and Damon are lifelong friends and have collaborated on a few notable films in the past. Good Will Hunting won the duo the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay back in 1998, and they worked together again on Kevin Smith’s 1999 satire Dogma to great success. The idea of seeing them co-lead a film again makes me smile given how well Dogma and Will Hunting showcased their excellent onscreen chemistry.
Plus, the film is a story about the “little guy” (Nike in this case) betting big and coming out on top. Inspiration, thy name is Air. Then there’s the fact that Affleck is directing the film. While he’s a respected name now, Ben Affleck fought tooth and nail to get there, spending the ‘90s as a pretty boy and the early 2000s in a number of legendary box office flops like Gigli and Surviving Christmas.
However, with the triple knockout combo of proven directorial prowess in films like 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, 2010’s The Town, and 2012’s Argo, Affleck proved himself a strong directorial talent and surged back into public’s good graces in front of the camera with 2014’s Gone Girl. While Affleck’s 2016 passion project Live by Night wasn’t the hit he expected it to be, the film did little to dull an otherwise solid track record of gritty, well-acted dramas that otherwise make up his work.
The trailer for Air seems to be aiming for the same kind of audience as Moneyball or Draft Day, films that are more about a behind-the-scenes aspect of a given sport rather than the sport itself. I appreciate the inspirational tone and everyone’s authentic 1980s garb. I’m always up for a story of people beating others’ expectations of them by taking a huge risk.
It’s also nice to see Chris Tucker again given his rather sporadic appearances in films over the 2010s (his last movie was Ang Lee’s 2016 film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) and Bateman and Davis have proven themselves to be some of Hollywood’s most dependable players regardless of what the project is.
Lastly, it helps that the film seems to be from a comedy-drama angle. Affleck hasn’t directed a primarily comedic film before, so I’ll be interested to see how he handles the tonal balance if Air leans into the humor of its story while also allowing for moments of gravitas. It’s also nice to see the film distributor Amazon giving this a theatrical release given Affleck has spoken in the past about how important smaller films like this are to him.
We’ll thankfully only have to wait until April 5, 2023 to see if Air soars, but speaking for myself, hopefully, it’s a cinematic slam dunk.
What do you think of the trailer for Air? Will you see it in theaters or wait until it goes streaming on Amazon? What did you think of Ben Affleck’s previous directorial efforts? What’s your favorite sports movie? Let us know in the comments below and on our social media.
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SOURCE: MGM, YouTube
