Air * * * *

This is a film about one of the ugliest shoes ever made.  But then, isn't ugliness a feature of all running shoes - or "sneakers" as some like to call them?

I look at them as a bit like gumboots. They have a job to do and that's when you should put them on. But the idea of walking round and using them as every day wear is just ridiculous. Yet, that is precisely what people do with running shoes.  God knows why!  

I just did it. 

Nike make a shoe called Air Jordan which is named after the famous basketballer of the same name. It's a shoe that came to totally dominate the sneaker market and turned the fortune, and market position, of Nike around.

It would be easy to regard this film as nothing more than a promotional film for a corporate giant, but that could also have been said for Steve Jobs (Apple) and Founder (McDonalds), both of which were excellent stories. 

So is this to be honest. 

Like the above films the focus in Air is mostly on one person, in this case Sonny, well played by Matt Damon.  His job was to promote the basketball profile of Nike. It was his idea to put all the marketing dollars into one player Michael Jordan and not just have him wear Nike, but to actually develop a new shoe around him so that the name Jordan would always be synonymous with the product.  It was high risk because no one knew if Michael Jordan was going to last.  As it turned out he became the greatest of all time.

The film "Air" has a pulse that pumps like someone on the basketball court.  I mean, it really moves along!  Obviously we know the outcome but during the telling of the tale, especially as they contest the other big sports shoe companies to sign Jordan it's exciting and inspiring.  

For all that though, like those other films on Apple and McDonalds they wouldn't want to be dependent on me for sales!  Good story though.