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THE STRATOSPHERE — When I was begging for Air Jordan's my 7th through 13th birthdays, I never thought about how the shoes came to be. I just assumed Nike and Michael Jordan had always been partners, and they made a shoe together.
How wrong I was.
The movie "Air" tells how Nike, a non-player in the basketball shoe space at the time, landed Michael Jordan and made sneaker history.
Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker and Ben Affleck star in the film, which Affleck also directed.
My job today is not to tell you what I thought about the movie, but how it earned its R rating. The film will appeal to sneakerheads everywhere, but will it be your cup of tea? What about your teen who has seven pairs of Jordans and wants to see how the iconic sneaker came to be?
I can't tell you if you should go see it or if you should let your teen watch it with his or her friends, but I can tell you what's in the movie so you can make a more educated decision.
Here is how "Air" earned its R rating.
Sex
It seems likely that movies like "Air" would find an opportunity to throw in a sex scene — maybe to show that a man is a philanderer or that high-powered business deals are done at questionable clubs. Still, there is nothing of the sort in "Air."
There is no romance, and I don't even recall a kiss or hand-holding. Some sexually aggressive insults are made in one scene that can be highly disturbing even though they are not genuine threats. A character laughs it off, but it is vulgar and abrupt.
Violence
The push to get Jordan to sign with Nike included no bloodshed or fisticuffs. The most violent thing in the film is a phone being slammed into the receiver. There is virtually no violence in the movie.
Language
No surprise, but language is where "Air" earned its R rating. I didn't keep a running tally of F-words in the movie, but, suffice it to say, I don't have enough fingers or toes to keep track. While there was plenty of language in the film, I must admit that I was expecting more, given it was an Affleck-directed film.
To put this in perspective, Affleck's earlier films are filled to the brim with the F-word. "Gone Baby Gone" has over 120 uses of the word, and "The Town" has more than 150. The movie he and Damon wrote together, "Good Will Hunting," also has over 150 uses of the word.
The language in "Air" parallels Affleck's film "Argo." Plenty to make it rated R, but not near the amount some films have.
Overall
"Air" is a tame film, regarding its content outside of language. The tone is optimistic and bright. The characters deal with doubts and fears, but it is not a dark or depressing movie. Due to the language, however, it deserves the R rating,
"Air" is officially rated R for language throughout.
