'Air' Is The Greatest Underdog-In-Business Movie Of All Time

Ben Affleck & Matt Damon are two of the great actors of our generation, and their acting makes 'Air' a truly amazing film.

Air is a truly amazing film about a business underdog winning big by taking risks. And that's partially what makes this film so great, because every entrepreneur that sees this film will undoubtedly love the greater themes of success in business, and everyone else will love how heartwarming it is.

The film follows Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), a slightly-overweight athlete relations marketing executive in the then-failing basketball department for Nike, just as it had become a 10-figure company and gone public in 1984. The Sonny Vaccaro character is a great archetype: his kindness and outgoing personality, positive outlook on life, hope, and status trying to make a name for himself at a huge corporation as an underdog all make him a lovably relatable character. Damon's portrayal of him is what makes the film so special.

The stakes are high in this film. Vaccaro and his colleagues in the basketball athletic marketing department, including his bosses' jobs are all on the line now that the company has gone public. Basketball shoe sales at Nike are declining and have been for a long time. Their only hope is to sign a big up-and-coming star to reignite their brand in the basketball scene. But Vaccaro believes he's found the answer they were looking for in the rookie Michael Jordan, who'd just been drafted by the Chicago Bulls several months earlier. Jordan is still a fairly unknown player at the time, but showed much promise for the future, and Vaccaro isn't the only one who notices. Converse and Adidas (who at the time both maintained a much larger share of the basketball shoe market than Nike) have also taken a liking to Jordan, and the three companies enter a bidding war to sign him to represent their brand. Vaccaro is stuck in a touchy situation though, because even though he knows Jordan is the key, offering the department's entire budget on one player hadn't ever been done before, and all his colleague's job are on the line, and as much as they'd like to just trust him, it's difficult for them to do so. They have families. And his bosses have bosses, including CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), and as much as he likes Vaccaro, he has to do what's right for his business, even if that means eliminating a failing department inside his company.

It's the characters, conflicts, and relationships between them that makes this movie so great, as well as the unfolding story, and how much you'll want to see Sonny Vaccaro succeed in his role at the company.

On another note, this movie has an absolutely bitchin' soundtrack which really adds to the atmosphere and immerses the audience in this world that takes place in the mid-1980s, with hits like Grandmaster Flash's "The Message," Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody," "Let It Whip" by Dazz Band, Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," and even Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA" which plays during the montage in the ending sequence.

This film is a fantastic underdog-in-business story and it's the character Sonny Vaccaro's relatability that makes the film truly stand out from other business and sports films. Seeing Michael Jordan's legacy in marketing unfold on screen also makes the film very unique and cool. But the underlying Americanist success themes and business philosophy are what really make it special, especially for the patriots and entrepreneurs. Taking risks, reaching for the stars, and being kind and building relationships with your business partners and potential clients are all themes that are built into the fabric of this film, and will undoubtedly put a smile on the faces of the audience members who are a bit more advanced in cinematic analysis, and perhaps a bit more entrepreneurial than others.

We don't do this often, but EndingPolitics.com gives Air two big thumbs up and four stars. At the time you're reading this, you probably still have another week left to see this film on the big screen before it leaves theaters. We recommend it.