slightlymad22 Plot In A Paragraph: Focusing on sports legend Mohammad Ali during the years 1964 to 1974.For this reviewer, Ali was overlooked and undervalued at the time of its release. As despite Will Smith's star power, the movie didn't hit the $100 million mark at the box office, a rarity for a Smith lead movie in those days!! (As even Wild Wild West crosses the $100 million barrier) and despite two Oscar nominations, I feel it was ignored, and should have had more.THE FIRST 10 minutes of Ali are great!! Time hopping and covering a lot of ground all at once. Set to the vocal delight of Sam Cooke, we see Cassius Clay, Jr. taking a night time run being harassed by a pair of cops, then he's a child, walking toward the "coloreds only" section of a bus, then we cut back to Clay in the gym on the speed bag, then back to the child watching his father paint a blonde haired, blue eyes Jesus, before we get to the the weigh-in with Sonny Liston, where he delivers his "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" line, dominating proceedings and sparring with reporter's. It is probably the best opening 20 minutes to any Mann directed movie. I think it was a wise decision to focus on the years the movie does as we see him become champ by defeating Liston, deepen his commitment to Islam, change his name from Cassius Clay to Mohammed Ali, lose the title by refusing induction into the army, and regain the title in the rumble in the jungle against George Forman.As a sports biopic, it's light on action, and it actually devoted as much time (if not more) on what happens before and after the fights, as what it does on the fights. It's not a feel good flick either, the movie doesn't fall into a lot of the trappings of this type of movie, and at times, it's not afraid of showing Ali in an unflattering light. His troubled relationships with his wives, father and his struggles with the Muslim community are all covered in detail. Which could explain its lack of success at the box office upon release.Will Smith is amazing here!! In Mann, he found a director who could finally help him deliver a performance nobody thought he had in him. Surprisingly the movie doesn't play to Smith's strong suits, such as his comic timing or his fast talking, quick with a one liner persona, that wasn't so different from Ali's. Instead we get a thoughtful, dialled in dramatic performance that I think should have won him the Oscar that year. I totally forge I'm watching Smith, and all I see is Ali. For me it seems the bigger the star, the better the performance Mann seems to get. The full movie is ridiculously well cast. Jon Voight, (an actor I adore, and was also nominated, and again I think should have won) or his performance as Howard Cosell. Jamie Foxx, Ron Silver and Jeffrey Wright It's not perfect, it could use a bit of editing to sort out some pacing issues, things such as the whole Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles) and Martin Luthor King (LeVar Burton) subplots could have gone. Some bits seem drawn out, whilst others seem rushed over. Like when he goes for a morning run in Zaire, it feels like he is running longer than Forest Gump did!! Ali grossed $58 million to end the year the 41st highest grossing movie of 2001.I'd rate the movie an 8/10, but I'm giving an extra point for Smith's performance.

DraxAnivar All the incredible acting was undone by sloppy-to-non-existent editing. I had to open the Wikipedia entry on Muhammad Ali to figure out who was who, where they were, and why people were saying what they were saying.Will Smith's and John Voight's excellent performances were wasted. The movie would have been greatly aided by displaying the names of towns and characters. It seemed like every time a new character was shown on screen, they were never introduced by exposition.The movie jumped around locations a lot, and the dialogue was confusing at times, unless you already knew the life story of Ali.Michael Mann can do better, but he seemed more interested in crafting the individual scenes instead of focusing on a coherent narrative. Thus, the movie was long, boring, and confusing.It was heartbreaking, I wanted to like this movie, but the editing ruined it.

grantss Great subject but, strangely, unengaging movie.The story of Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, boxers who has ever lived. Shows from his first title bout (as Cassius Clay) until the conclusion of the "Rumble in the Jungle" versus George Foreman. Covers his conversion to Islam, his relationships, his being drafted into the Army and his refusal to go, his subsequent legal issues and a myriad of other details.Interesting, from an historical perspective, but feels flat and unengaging as a human drama. On paper it should work - the movie is directed by Michael Mann, of Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies, The Last of the Mohicans and Miami Vice fame. However, he is more an action-drama / thriller director and it shows, to a degree, in this movie. Characters aren't developed very well but the action scenes (in this case, the fight scenes) are great.Part of the problem is that Mann tries to cram as many events from Ali's life into the movie as possible. Even though the movie is fairly long at 2 1/2 hours, many of the lesser events are given a passing mention, with no real context. You often feel no connection to the event and they just feel like flashes across the screen.A better way to tackle the subject would have been to concentrate on the big themes and events of Ali's life, and leave out all the miscellaneous life. This, or make a mini-series rather than a movie. The man did and achieved so much, 2 1/2 hours is hardly enough time to encapsulate his life.On the plus side, as mentioned before the fight scenes are great. Well staged, well shot and very tense.Will Smith got a Best Leading Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ali, but I am not sure he deserved it. Physically he is not imposing enough to be Ali. Furthermore, while he does a great job at capturing Ali's bravado and trash-talking, his verbal tone just doesn't seem right in normal speech. It's as if every line of dialogue is a speech, rather than just normal dialogue, and this can be quite irritating at times.Good supporting cast though. Jon Voight is almost unrecognizable as legendary sports presenter, and Ali's verbal sparring partner, Howard Cosell. He does a great job and got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his efforts.Good work too from Jamie Foxx. The hidden gem is Mykelti Williamson who gives a great, over-the-top, often-hilarious performance as boxing promoter Don King.Overall, considering the subject, this movie is disappointing but there is enough there to keep you interested.

vincentlynch-moonoi To me, there are two separate things to review here: the film-story and the acting.In terms of the film-story, I really disliked it. You might ask how can that be since it's a bio-pic, and a fairly accurate one, at that. The problem for me was the way the film was fashioned, rather than a cohesive story line, it seemed more like a series of vignettes loosely tied together, with the viewer left to draw some conclusions. I really disliked it, and if it were not for the strength of the performances, I would have turned the over-long movie off rather quickly.But, the performance are terrific. The strongest, in my view, is actually that of Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X; perhaps the best performance of his career, though it ends (with Malcolm X's death) fairly early in the movie. But there is no denying that Will Smith's portrayal of Mohammad Ali is stunning; perhaps the best of his career. The look is "okay", but the voice mannerisms are startlingly accurate.There are issues with Jon Voight as Howard Cosell. I think his performance is quite good, but the makeup is almost laughable.The other supporting actors do their jobs well, though none stand out. I include in that comment Jamie Foxx...nothing notable there; his best role as Ray Charles a while off.Of course, a legitimate question is whether this is simply a movie that glorifies Ali. I don't think so. It portrays him as an interesting mix of a man who is, perhaps, a bit intellectual, but not well-educated. Who had less than a healthy respect for women (particularly his wives). But, ironically, also a man who understands dignity.The film ends with the win over George Foreman, so it's an incomplete biography.Not something I'd want to watch a third time.