Air
Amazon Studios | Release Date: April 5, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 59 Critic Reviews
Positive:
49
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiApr 5, 2023
Be you a fan of basketball or basket weaving, Air will snugly fit the tastes of just about anybody. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 3, 2023
Thanks to Affleck’s sure-handed, period-piece-perfect direction, a crackling good screenplay by Alex Convery and the lively, funny, warm, passionate performances from the A-list cast, Air is as entertaining and fast-paced as an NBA Finals game that is destined for overtime. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 3, 2023
As a star-studded (and highly fictionalized) history lesson, Air is massively entertaining and one of the best films of 2023 so far. It also works as a nostalgia piece for people like me who, in their youth, lusted after the pricey footwear. Read full review
100
IndieWireMarisa MirabalMar 19, 2023
Air is a slam dunk and ultimately one of the best sports movies ever made. Read full review
90
ABC NewsPeter TraversApr 7, 2023
Director Ben Affleck slam dunks a movie about a basketball sneaker—the Air Jordan, no less— and it’s the first all-star Oscar contender of 2023, an outrageously entertaining classic in the making with Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis and a cast of MVPs at the top of their game. Read full review
90
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonApr 5, 2023
The stellar cast, in particular, is reason enough to run to the theater to see Air. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 4, 2023
Ben Affleck produces one of his most irresistibly entertaining dramas — albeit one that never forgets the capitalist reality of this feel-good story. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireApr 5, 2023
If you love movies about process, about people who are good at their jobs, then you’ll find yourself enthralled by the film’s many moments inside offices, conference rooms, and production labs. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittApr 3, 2023
“Live by Night” aside, Affleck’s directorial record is pretty impressive and Air feels like his most inspired effort to date, an underdog story with the greatest basketball player of all time at its heart. Read full review
85
Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseApr 5, 2023
All the well-directed decision-making made by Affleck to present a known story reveals how screenwriter Alex Convery crafted a script where actors had the freedom to embrace their characters to the core. And adding the Affleck-Damon recipe makes it even better. Read full review
85
TheWrapRob DeanMar 20, 2023
The banter in Convery’s script is entertaining, but it’s truly the actors under Affleck’s excellent direction that makes Air feel like something special. It doesn’t nail every scene or sentiment; but when the film is good (which is often), it’s on fire. Read full review
83
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsApr 4, 2023
In many ways, AIR embodies the last decade of sports movies that have pivoted from showing action on the field or court, instead peeking into corner offices and classrooms to examine the power players and dealmakers pulling the strings. Read full review
83
ColliderRoss BonaimeApr 4, 2023
Affleck makes Air look easy, a director who knows exactly what he’s doing, and knows how to build anticipation, work our excitement, and tell a story about a shoe that is truly enthralling and gripping. Read full review
83
Original-CinJim SlotekApr 3, 2023
Air is enjoyable, engaging, sprinkled with some of the ‘80s sprightlier hits (including Sister Christian and Money for Nothing), and good for some laughs. Read full review
82
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonApr 5, 2023
It’s a wholly relatable and surprisingly sharp tale of grandiose risk-taking and myth-making. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushMatt SingerApr 6, 2023
In another director’s hands Air could very easily have become a piece of corporate propaganda for Nike and its ongoing Michael Jordan apparel empire. And, in a way, it still is — only it’s now an exceedingly entertaining and impressively heart-warming piece of corporate propaganda. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongApr 6, 2023
So it’s not the Michael Jordan story, or a two-hour lesson about the science of sneaker design. Instead Air is an engaging Hollywood fairytale, about extraordinary people and the scope of their ambition, and the importance of advocating not only for your own worth, but for the worth of those around you. Read full review
80
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 6, 2023
The film wants to be a wing-ding entertainment, but it also strives to say Something Important. The first half of that equation is what makes the movie eminently worth watching. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 5, 2023
Air might seem at first like a ridiculous idea for a movie, but it is in fact an ingenious one. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenApr 5, 2023
A mostly CG-free, witty, grown-up drama that revels in strong, propulsive storytelling? Sometimes they do make ’em like they used to. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 5, 2023
Air, Affleck’s fifth movie as a director, may sound like a bore if you don’t care about business, basketball, or athletic shoes. But Affleck, working from a script by Alex Convery, uses classic stealth means to make you care. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeApr 5, 2023
The film certainly invites fists to be pumped in celebration. It is less certain Air offers any meaningful critique of the society that gave us the sacred gutty. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryApr 5, 2023
While this represents a considerably lighter story than his Oscar-winning “Argo,” in terms of its sheer appeal Air flies pretty high indeed, in part because its coach is savvy enough to let his winning lineup of all-stars take the ball and run with it. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzApr 5, 2023
The movie is so across-the-board charming that even the most hardcore of socialists will find themselves rooting for Nike – that bastion of global corporate responsibility – to make gobs and gobs of money off the hard work of a young Black athlete. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangApr 5, 2023
In some ways, the movie is also carrying on a subliminal, more subtly nostalgic conversation with the ’90s, the decade that transformed Affleck and Damon into household names and saw some of their key supporting players here first rise to prominence. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerApr 4, 2023
A rousing underdog saga that—like Ben Affleck’s prior directorial efforts Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo—has the type of snappy energy and charm that should earn it a long post-theatrical shelf life. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 3, 2023
Air isn’t a documentary, it's better — a brilliantly acted, fascinating true story. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 19, 2023
Air reveals how an exceptional Black athlete leveraged his talent and the power of being pursued by a bunch of white men in suits, to change the game. Not just basketball, but the whole field of celebrity endorsements. Read full review
80
SlashfilmRyan ScottMar 18, 2023
At the end of the day, it's an earnest, good movie looking at a very specific part of this mythical figure's story. It's a story that deserved telling, and this was the right guy to tell that story. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 5, 2023
As always, Affleck remains one of the directors who can disguise a powerful parable as giddy, crowd-pleasing entertainment. Read full review
75
The AtlanticDavid SimsApr 14, 2023
Air is a great return to Affleck’s original impulses as a director: It’s a fun, well-made film for grown-ups that gives its actors room to flesh out their characters and, most important, doesn’t rely on Affleck’s star persona. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrApr 5, 2023
Air coasts quite well on its compelling, funny and self-aware script (which even allows room for an amusing disagreement about who exactly came up with the name Air Jordan) and charismatic movie stars. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshApr 5, 2023
The style is busy, Affleck laying a heavy hand on the ’80s references and music cues, Robert Richardson’s cinematography mimicking the amateurish style of someone with a brand-new camcorder. But the pace flies, and the actors make the film wildly engaging. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubRay GreeneApr 5, 2023
For a few scenes, Air feels like a gently satirical movie about corporate skullduggery. But it’s really a sports picture, where outcomes are determined by dedication, and a purity of purpose no one else can match. Damon’s Sonny is the scrappy and unlikely contender, whose love of the game gives him heart. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 4, 2023
Apparently, the answer is yes: Working from a well-judged script by first-time screenwriter Alex Convery and enlisting a superb cast of appealing ensemble players, Affleck has created something that Hollywood has seemed incapable of making in recent years: a smart, entertaining movie that, for all its foregone conclusions and familiar beats, unfolds with the offhand confidence of the most casually impressive layup. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 4, 2023
Air feels less like an Oscar contender (hence the April release) than something designed to provide a solid two hours of nostalgic entertainment. It features strong acting and a well-written screenplay and the tone is kept on the light side. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 4, 2023
Air is a good time, as well as a triumph of sports marketing in every conceivable way. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 3, 2023
Air might not quite be in the class of “Gone Baby Gone” or “The Town,” but it’s old-fashioned in the best sense: solid, confident, simple, straightforward and entirely entertaining. It’s the work of an intelligent classicist. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 30, 2023
Air is a beautifully featherweight triumph of “on-the-nose” casting. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineGregory NussenMar 23, 2023
Air is shot through with an infectious energy, but it’s more poignant for the way that it rhymes the histories of its actors in the public eye with all that Nike’s creatives were struggling to reconcile when they were chasing after Jordan. Read full review
75
The PlaylistMatthew MonagleMar 19, 2023
As a sports movie, “Air” is competent in all the right ways — good performances, strong dialogue, and a nice focus on 1980s production design and world-building — landing in the upper echelons of the Dad Movie lexicon. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonApr 7, 2023
Watching Air, I found myself thinking that maybe what Hollywood needs is a movie like this: fresh, fun, full of movie stars doing their movie star thing without the aid of capes or pre-chewed IP, opening only in theaters. A story about risk-taking that could prove the reward was worth it. A weird, wild sneaker of a movie, if you will. Read full review
70
SlateJack HamiltonApr 6, 2023
It’s the sort of concept that could lend itself to disaster if handled poorly, so it’s a credit to everyone involved that Air is thoroughly entertaining, even if it never really maximizes its alluring potential. By the end it feels like Affleck’s movie has settled for a pull-up jumper rather than attacking the rim—a reasonable decision, but probably not one Michael Jordan would make. Read full review
70
IGNMatt DonatoApr 5, 2023
Air is an underdog crowd-pleaser with a standout ensemble cast sharpened to a point. As both director and co-star, Ben Affleck finds a balance between comedy and explanation that remains accessible to all audiences. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearApr 4, 2023
Come for the uplift of an underdog sports story centered around the guys who made you realize a shoe isn’t just a shoe, superstar foot or not. Stay for the film that Davis gives you when, standing unguarded, she’s suddenly passed the ball, effortlessly rolls it off her fingertips, and gets nothing but net. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisApr 4, 2023
Written by Alex Convery, Air nicely hits the sweet spot between light comedy and lighter drama that’s tough to get right. It’s funny, but its generous laughs tend to be low-key and are more often dependent on their delivery than on the actual writing. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeMar 19, 2023
For most audiences, Air will be worth seeing just for the starry cast — particularly the reunion between Damon and Affleck. Their scenes possess a kinetic and intimate dynamism that the rest of the film approaches but doesn’t always match. Read full review
67
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerApr 5, 2023
Affleck knows how to tell a compelling story on screen, and Air does succeed in making the particulars of this deal feel intriguing; it’s a classic underdog tale at its core, and watching this one major contract come together is exciting in the moment. Read full review
63
ObserverOliver JonesMar 28, 2023
As he has shown in other directorial efforts—most especially 2007’s Gone Baby Gone—Affleck has a real knack for both building narrative momentum and attenuating a film’s emotions until they ascend into a satisfying catharsis. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinApr 6, 2023
It’s absorbing and well-acted enough that at times you could almost forget you were being asked to emotionally invest in which company gets to slide its wares onto a rich young sportsman’s feet. Read full review
60
Vanity FairRichard LawsonApr 4, 2023
Jordan’s absence from this film leaves a big, leaping void at the center. We’re forced to root for marketing executives instead of the phenomenon being marketed. Without its raison d’etre, there is not enough juice to sustain the film. It all feels a bit silly by the heartstring-tugging end. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de SemlyenMar 21, 2023
A lot more entertaining and irreverent than the film’s grandiose subtitle, “Courting A Legend”, suggests — even if it’s hardly as trailblazing as the man to whom it pays tribute. Read full review
50
The New YorkerRichard BrodyApr 7, 2023
The movie’s substance remains largely implicit; its pleasures are partial, detached, and superficial. It offers little context, background, personality, or anything that risks distracting from the show. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMike DeitzApr 10, 2023
Vapid and meaningless, the consumer-friendly 'Air' tells a revolutionary story in the blandest, slickest way possible. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneApr 10, 2023
This movie, in short, kneels at the altar of high capitalism. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 10, 2023
For all its affable charm, there’s something slippery and disingenuous about this film. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyApr 7, 2023
It’s hard to land on a reason for any of this to exist beyond a goosing up of Nike’s own image. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithApr 6, 2023
It plays like pure television by an Aaron Sorkin disciple, and there is no reason whatsoever to see this on the big screen. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 5, 2023
This film winds up looking like the most expensive in-house corporate promo in history: shallow, parochial and obtuse. By the time the credits roll, we’re apparently supposed to be euphoric – not so much at individual sporting achievement, but at all the billions of dollars that Nike has been making. Read full review
More From This Movie

73 Critic Reviews

7.2 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL