Untold: The Murder of Air McNair review - Is the Netflix show worth the watch? 

Untold: The Murder of Air McNair is the newest sports documentary on Netflix. Directed by Rodney Lucas and Taylor Ward, The Murder of Air McNair is a gripping new installment in the series Untold, which dives into the harrowing story of the murder of NFL legend Steve “Air” McNair.

The documentary revisits a dark moment in the history of sports, exploring controversy, failure and injustice, by looking into the suspicious death of the American football star. Untold: The Murder of Air McNair premiered on the Netflix streaming platform today, August 20, 2024.

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Untold: The Murder of Air McNair tells the life and death of NFL star Steve McNair

Untold: The Murder of Air McNair documents the shocking 2009 murder of Steve McNair. The episode runs for about 58 minutes and covers his phenomenal rise to fame as an NFL MVP quarterback and his murder soon after, which required an investigation.

On July 4, 2009, the celebrated NFL MVP quarterback Steve “Air” McNair was found dead after suffering multiple gunshot wounds. His body was found alongside that of 20-year-old Sahel “Jenny” Kazemi in a downtown Nashville apartment.

The documentary features interviews with friends of McNair, police detectives who worked on the case and police footage of suspects and witnesses being interviewed.

The police interviewed McNair’s acquaintances Wayne Neely, who had called 911 but left the scene of the crime before help could arrive, and Robert Gaddy, who had a business dispute with McNair over money relating to a joint business venture.

They also interviewed Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend Kenneth Norfleet, and Adrian Gilliam, a felon who admitted to selling Kazemi the murder weapon. The case was eventually closed as murder-suicide, saying that Kazemi had been struggling with her finances and her mental health, and there were also issues with McNair being involved with other women.

The documentary also brings us an interview with Vincent Hill, a private investigator who was also closely related to the investigations of McNair’s death. But he appears only in the final 10 minutes of the show and provides an alternative theory to the case.

He has also attempted to persuade a grand jury to reopen the case with a 32-page dossier.

Alongside an investigative journalistic angle to the murder, Untold: The Murder of Air McNair also narrates the story of McNair’s rise to stardom across 13 seasons in the NFL, focussing specifically on the team’s stunning run to the 2000 Super Bowl.

McNair was a talented football player, who was team-oriented and stayed away from the spotlight. In the 1999 season, he took the Tennessee Titans all the way to the Super Bowl against the St Louis Rams and gave fans a classic game.

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Is the Netflix documentary worth the watch?

While Untold: The Murder of Air McNair is an interesting mix of sports documentary and true crime, it comes off as a not-so-ambitious project and ends up as a retelling of events up till 2009, when the retired quarterback, 36, was found dead in an apartment.

There are many questions that are left unanswered in the documentary, though, especially some loose facts that make one wonder if the case was solved correctly. The documentary doesn't go much into the death of the case and ends up feeling like only a part of the whole story.

Netflix's Untold: The Murder of Air McNair may have started off as a one-of-a-kind project, mixing genres of sports and true crime together, but it doesn't live up to its potential.

The show becomes a simple retelling of the story of the life and death of a celebrated NFL player and doesn't bring much depth or complexity by avoiding exploring too many other perspectives, like Hill's, which could have added substantially to the show.

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Catch Untold: The Murder of Air McNair now streaming on Netflix.