A good movie

When I heard that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were making a movie about how Michael Jordan and Nike went into business 40 years ago, right away, I was interested and I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, I grew up in the 90’s when the NBA was becoming super popular, not only in the US but also in the rest of the world and, like so many other kids, I was fascinated by these US athletes. Obviously, at the time, Jordan was already the GOAT. The funny thing is that, were I lived in France, we never saw an actual NBA game on TV. Another obsession that we had at the time were sneakers and Nike was at the top. As a matter of fact, 40 years later, I still wear every day some Nike Air Max (no Air Jordan, sorry) so I’m a big fan, that’s for sure. So, obviously, watching a movie combining all these elements was such a treat. I think there was also a nice parallel with Affleck’s and Damon’s careers who came out of nowhere and won an Academy Award for their first big movie, ‘Good Will Hunting’. Sure, after all these years, knowing everything Jordan would achieve and how Nike would eventually dominate the market, it seemed like a no-brainer to sign Michael Jordan but, at the time, Sonny Vacaro was pretty much the only one who really saw it. Indeed, Jordan was certainly really talented but he was still pretty much just a kid who still had to play his first NBA game, the Bulls were one of the weakest teams in the NBA and Nike was struggling in the basketball business and mostly known for selling running shoes. This movie was also a nice tribute to Jordan’s mother who was so instrumental in his career, in this business with Nike but also on what for man he actually became. Concerning the fact that, even though this movie was about Michael Jordan, we actually never see him facing the camera or even talking (according to Ben Affleck, nobody could play Michael Jordan convincingly) but, even though I understand this choice, the end-result was rather jarring though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a very nice feelgood feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject matter. 

7/10