Ali

Rating:
Summary: How could Muhammed Ali ever be tedious?
Review: I never thought it possible, but the unfortunate length (157 minutes) and the pacing of Michael Mann's film bogs down the story of a sports icon who may never be matched in the sheer amount of charisma he possessed. I'm a big fan of Michael Mann's - from the Miami Vice days to Last of the Mohicans to The Insider. His visual and sound vision were clearly present in this film, and his script and the caliber of his stars clearly produced some fine individual moments and some excellent performances. But, in trying to cover too much ground, Mann never clearly establishes a compelling single story line, and doesn't spend enough time revealing the connection (pro and con) between Ali and the American public. Ali always kept you guessing. Was it real, or was it Ali performing for the cameras?

As much as I enjoyed the boxing scenes, they probably did the most to drag the movie out too long....and I would have preferred more Liston and Frazier, and done Foreman only anecdotally. The same with his marriages....more anecdotally, since none of the relationships was really allowed to evolve on film (although it would have been a shame to miss Nona Gay, as wife Belinda; she was superb). Individual performances were striking, with Jon Voight in a career caricature as Howard Cosell, a tremendous performance by Jamie Foxx as Bundini, and brief but memorable cameos by Ron Silver and Giancarlo Esposito. And Will Smith? This was a really fine performance in a role that would have scared many actors. He truly studied his role and exacted everything he was capable of in the film. Was it worth an Academy Award nomination - I think not, but I now believe he's capable of making a real run for it in a future role.
Pound for pound, I preferred "The Hurricane".

Rating:
Summary: He's a lover AND a fighter!
Review: The movie "Ali" portrays the story of one of the world's most recognized boxers, Mohammed Ali (who was born Cassius Clay).

Actor Will Smith gives an excellent performance as boxer Ali. It is hard enough to portray a real character, much less a legendary one. Smith is successful in showing not only the physical side but also the charisma of the boxing personality, Ali, who has strong convictions and a funny wit.

The movie begins with Ali's fight against boxer Sonny Liston, which puts him on the map as a fighter. It ends with Ali's fight with George Foreman in Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo). This famous fight was billed as the 'Rumble in the Jungle.' In between, the movie covers the fighter's rise to success, his conversion to the Muslim religion, his name change and his fight against the U.S. government to keep from being enlisted in the army. We also see Ali's close friendship to two well-known people - sportscaster Howard Cosell and Malcom X.

The movie "Ali" also touches on the boxer's attraction to women and some of his many love relationships. (Smith's real life's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, plays the role of Ali's first wife.) Ali is certainly attracted to all pretty women!

All the actors give wonderful performances - Jamie Foxx as Bundini Brown (the man who worked to motivate Ali and help him with his rhymes - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!"), Jon Voight as Howard Cosell, Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X, Mykelti Williamson as Don King, Giancarlo Esposito as Cassius Clay Sr., Jada Pinkett Smith as Sonji Roi (Ali's first wife) and Nona M. Gaye as Belinda Boyd, to name a few.

The shots especially of some of the African countries (Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa) are vibrant and rich.

Although I'm not much of a boxing fan and sometimes found the boxing scenes a bit prolonged, all in all I found the movie a great story of a great athlete set to a great music soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: Great Ali but not such a great film
Review: If you have a choice between the documentary - "When We Were Kings" and "Ali" pick up "When We Where Kings" and then watch "Ali" after for Will Smith's performance alone who was up against Denzel Washington for an Oscar in 2001. Sometimes Will Smith even looks better than the real Ali in "When We Where Kings"!

Maybe if Ali had been a better movie Smith would have zipped past Denzel but unfortunately the movie is sadly very undernourished on the story front and feels very dull for a man of such stature. This is coming from a director too who is just well under par in this opus. Everything is here! - The fights, the family, the troubles, the controversy, the sets, the era and the players, but what it is missing is the element of hope, achievement, despair, loss, anger, happiness, punishment and every other emotional wallop that you would expect from a character with a biography to die for. The actors all carry and show these emotions but this film does not for some strange reason. It feels that the acting is too distant, far away, not-tangible and ultimate impossible to relate anything much too. You can not seem to find anything about yourself or your roots to bring to the film. There is also thus extremely very little that you can take away with you from it. It makes for a film that has everything on form, strike that! - Oscar winning form - but never seems to want to be entertainment or an art form or much of a motion picture film.

It is very hard to put your finger on what makes this film unmemorable. It certainly does not lack substance or drama but it just resides in a detachment of its own narrative which at times may be a bit too convoluted even though the film has nearly a three hour running time. The audience's disengagement can probably be found in Mann's misdirection of the moments in time that jump years but because the character in the last scene is in the next scene it leaves you feeling quite frankly - confused. In fact this type of mystification does reign throughout the movie. You are unsure if Ali is five years older or ten years older. You do not know what has happened to him in-between and the next scene could be five years ahead yet again or the next hour for all you know. Mann never does fix things down for us and so Ali's story remains scattered across the screen.

See for it Will Smith though. He does an excellent rendition of the greatest boxer of all time. You can barely recognize him on the screen. He is pumped up to Arnie-like sizes.

Rating:
Summary: Ali Lacks the Punch
Review: I went to see Ali with great anticipation based on the trailers and behind the scenes television spots. I am almost fifty years old and grew up following Ali's amazing career and life.

I'm not sure what Michael Mann was attempting to capture, but I feel he missed in all areas. The story doesn't really go anywhere. It just sort of rambles. It spends far too much time on musical montages. One scene of Ali doing road work in Africa just seems to go on and on and on.

The casting is a real plus. Will Smith captures Ali better than anyone (short of Ali himself). Jon Voigt almost steals the picture with a remarkable performance as Howard Cosell. Jamie Foxx and Mario Van Peebles round out an excellent cast. Unfortunately their not given a very good story to work with.

I recommend you rent "When We Were Kings". A documentary about the real "Rumble in the Jungle" starring the actual participants.

"Ali", I'm afraid is a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Ali the DVD disappointing as the film itself
Review: "Ali" is the attempted biographical movie
on Muhammed Ali's life, through the eyes
of Michael Mann (Miami Vice).

Although, I liked "Ali" for the most the part,
there were some problems with the film, that
prevented from me calling it a good film.

First of, the acting for most of the film is
badly acted, started with the major star
Will Smith who acts as Ali. Smith
is not convincing as the legendary champion,
he delivers his lines basically without
any emotion or comprehension of what he is saying
with the only exception being when Smith recites
the famous lines by Ali such as "I am King
of World. Sting like a butterfly float a bee".

The only real good points about Ali is that it
does show 3 factual things about the real
Ali. For instance, how Ali's real is Cassius
Clay, but after he joined the nation of Islam
and Malcom X. He changed his named to Cassius X.
Then after meeting the head of Islam,
Elijah, Muhammed, he changed

his name to Muhammed Ali.

Some people called it a landmark film, but it's
not. Some people even said that "Ali" showed
Ali as a great civil rights leader, but it didn't
do that either.

For instance , although "Ali" was friends
with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King,
he had only brief contact with them.

Also was not totally supportive of Malcolm X
(played well by Mario Van Peebles)
. Ali's manipulation by the nation of Islam and it's leader, drove a wedge between the friendship between Ali and Malcolm X.

The film also shows how Ali was a contracting
young man and older man. For instance,
his mistreatment of his wife Sonji ( Jada Pinkett)
after he follows the rule of Islam to discipline her.

Now I as I said the acting in the film is
really bad. Will Smith, probably didn't do
alot of research into the character of Ali, as
his lack of any feeling into some of the
serious areas of the movie (like his
reaction to civil riots ,Malcolm X and the
threat of him going to prison for avoiding
the draft).

I mean Smith does an ok job, when imitating
the famous lines by Ali such as "Float like
a butterfly sting like a bee", or "I am King
of The World". But when it comes down to
delivering real, reactions for Ali, Smith
is both laughable and mediocre.

For instance, there is a scene where Ali (Smith)
sees the trouble of civil rights on tv, and
yet his reaction is just something like "Wow,

or uh oh". LOL Then later on in the movie, when
Ali is threatened with imprisonment for refusing
to fight in the Vietnam War (yes he refused to fight), he basically just looks stonefaced, and
doesn't have the serious type of reaction you
would expect someone going to prison would have.

However, there are a couple of good actors in the
movie (not Smith)
that prevents "Ali" from being
a total failure .

Jon Voight is great as legendary, ego maniac,
sports announcer Howard Cosell (who ended
his career in disgrace).

Cosell was one of the biggest sports
voices in history, he had memorable
interviews with Ali, sports team like
the Lakers and many other great sports
figures, but by the end of his career
Howard's ego got the best of him, and eventually no one wanted to see this guy
on the air.

Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X, also deserves
some honorable mention as he does get into
Malcolm X characters, and his view on the
civil rights movement, and some of his
problems with Ali.

The other big complaints about the film was
that the film concentrated on the early
life of Ali, but not his life afterwards in
the 1980's, as critc Roger Ebert states.

Now the DVD for the film, like the film is a bit
of a disappointment:

The only bonus feature for the film is
the trailer.

There is no behind the scenes look at the film, no
"making of" featurette, no nothing.

There is not even no commentary for the film!!!

Michael Mann either was too busy,
or too damn lazy to do the commentary, because it would have given him the chance to respond
to the criticism for this part of the film,
instead he chose not to do any commentary
for the film and so the criticism
for the film will stand.

In the end, while Michael Mann tried to do a fair
attempt at the making of "Ali" there are alot
of problems that prevent him from doing so.

First, of, his main star , Will Smith, is just
plain awful as "Ali" . Smith, probably got
paid his millions for the film, but he ain't
worth it.

Second, Mann, only covers the early years, and not
the later years for the legend, when he would take
beatings in the ring, and would later get
Parkinson's disease, which would leave Ali
partially paralyzed and barely to speak (Ali
speaks in mumbles).

In the end, I can't recommend "Ali" because
it just basically could have been a heck of alot
better, and the dvd without the commentary , just
basically sums up the film as basically an average
attempt at creating a biography for the heavyweight
champion.

The bright side, is that there is a new film/dvd
which is a real biography on Ali, showing actual
interviews and clips of the real Ali, so you're
better of checking that one out than this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Great film about a legend
Review: Not being a boxing fan, but having had watched When we were Kings, I had a rough idea of who Ali was and what he had achieved during his career. I heard about Will Smith's role in Ali so decided to watch this as well.

You have to give credit to Will Smith for the accent,and the swaggering, overconfident 'Ali-ness' that he carried off so well. What interested me the most about this movie was Ali's contact with the black muslims and particularly Malcolm X. It was interesting to watch these two giants of the Civil Rights era come together in a time when the struggle for minority rights was the fiercest.

Ali's struggles after he had lost his right to box made me realize the power that Government has over the people within it's territory, but it also shows how hope can overcome what appear to be insurmountable obstacles. This was the saddest part of the film, and I think it made for good drama.

Despite Ali's magnificence in the boxing ring, he was a flawed man. His promiscuity makes a mockery of his religion and his weak excuses made me realize just how limited certain men are in carrying over the discipline from public life into the private.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in the life of Muhammad Ali.

Rating:
Summary: Not Mann's best: Smith a disappointment
Review: Despite the enormous hype and promotion of Smith's "transformation" into Ali, I can only suppose that Mann -- who originally could not get the movie funded, especially after the tragically unsuccessful masterpiece The Insider-- was saddled with Smith as a condition of getting the money. After all, in Hollywood, such a large budget could not be banked on anyone but Smith or Denzel, and Denzel can't play every single black hero, since he always looks just like, well, Denzel. But Smith, without a doubt a likeable and charismatic actor, is all wrong for the part. Despite the hype of voice training, he doesn't get Ali's voice or cadence right at all. He's superb in the boxing scenes, and these are the best part of the film, but otherwise Smith's Ali lacks Ali's CHARM. When Smith does Ali's famous playing with a child, "Did I hurt you?" (pretending to have punched him too fast to be seen), we don't feel like laughing with Ali's humanity, we feel like Smith just made a bad, self-serving joke.

For all of his poetic rants, Ali's gift (even in the ring) was his sphynx-like quality. Even through his throaty braggadocio, one was always left wondering: "Does he really understand boxing tactics, or is he just saying he does? Does he really understand Malcolm X's complicated African nationalism, or is he just mimicking?" Mann's script is underrated, precisely because it preserves these questions instead of other treatments which take one side or the other. But Smith walks through looking simultaneously cocky and bewildered, and that's not the same thing as the quiet and intense sphinx with the Mona Lisa smile, which was Ali.

At the same time, for all my admiration of Mann, one senses that he became too infatuated with historical accuracy for the mileau and boxing, and paid insufficient attention to the pacing (which is unweildy and inconsistent, so the audience yawns when they should be tense, poised for a climax) and to the supporting performances. Peebles is an embarrassment as Malcolm X, for example.

Mann was in a Catch-22. Ali is maybe the best biography of the twentieth-century, but there is no bankable Hollywood star appropriate for the role. Given that reality, he should not have made the movie. One senses Mann's integrity (shown in everything from Last of the Mohicans to Heat to The Insider) was somehow compromised here by his wishful thinking that he could make Smith into Ali so he could make the story.

The story is more engaging and thought-provoking in the dvd "When They Were Kings."

Rating:
Summary: Mann's Underrated Take on Legendary Boxer
Review: When Ali was released in 2001 it received decidedly mixed reviews. While Will Smith was praised for his impressive physical transformation into legendary boxer Muhammed Ali, the film itself was criticized for revealing nothing new about the man. Herein lies the problem that Michael Mann and company faced: how do you shed new light on one of the most documented historical figures of the 20th Century? Like he did with The Last of the Mohicans, Mann has revisited Ali again on DVD with a new cut of the film. He's taken out approximately 20 minutes of footage and put 30 minutes of previously unseen footage back in. The effect? Hard to tell unless you've seen the film many times but Mann claims that the politics of the times are more the focus this time around.

There is an audio commentary by writer/director Michael Mann. He does an excellent job of putting the film into its historical context. The director clearly did his homework and points out who everyone is and the significance of the events depicted in the movie which is a nice consideration for viewers not familiar with this particular period of time. This is an extremely informative track and Mann contributes many very thoughtful observations over the course of the movie.

"The Making of Ali" is a 29-minute featurette that originally aired on HBO. It is slightly better than your average electronic press kit and features some decent on the set footage and interview sound bites with Mann and various members of the cast.

Ali eschews the traditional docudrama for a more impressionistic take on the man and life. Mann's film may not say anything new about the famous boxer, but it does depict an exciting ten years of his life in a masterful and richly evocative fashion. This DVD features an excellent transfer of the movie with an aggressive 5.1 surround soundtrack and is definitely worth purchasing for Mann fans for his audio commentary alone.

Rating:
Summary: I think this movie was the greatest
Review: Personaly i think this movie was great. The acting was wonderful. I think Will Smith was perfect for the part, i thought he captured Ali's essence and charm.

Rating:
Summary: Ali the DVD disappointing as the film itself
Review: "Ali" is the attempted biographical movie
on Muhammed Ali's life, through the eyes
of Michael Mann (Miami Vice).

Although, I liked "Ali" for the most the part,
there were some problems with the film, that
prevented from me calling it a good film.

First of, the acting for most of the film is
badly acted, started with the major star
Will Smith who acts as Ali. Smith
is not convincing as the legendary champion,
he delivers his lines basically without
any emotion or comprehension of what he is saying
with the only exception being when Smith recites
the famous lines by Ali such as "I am King
of World. Sting like a butterfly float a bee".

The only real good points about Ali is that it
does show 3 factual things about the real
Ali. For instance, how Ali's real is Cassius
Clay, but after he joined the nation of Islam
and Malcom X. He changed his named to Cassius X.
Then after meeting the head of Islam,
Elijah, Muhammed, he changed

his name to Muhammed Ali.

Some people called it a landmark film, but it's
not. Some people even said that "Ali" showed
Ali as a great civil rights leader, but it didn't
do that either.

For instance , although "Ali" was friends
with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King,
he had only brief contact with them.

Also was not totally supportive of Malcolm X
(played well by Mario Van Peebles)
. Ali's manipulation by the nation of Islam and it's leader, drove a wedge between the friendship between Ali and Malcolm X.

The film also shows how Ali was a contracting
young man and older man. For instance,
his mistreatment of his wife Sonji ( Jada Pinkett)
after he follows the rule of Islam to discipline her.

Now I as I said the acting in the film is
really bad. Will Smith, probably didn't do
alot of research into the character of Ali, as
his lack of any feeling into some of the
serious areas of the movie (like his
reaction to civil riots ,Malcolm X and the
threat of him going to prison for avoiding
the draft).

I mean Smith does an ok job, when imitating
the famous lines by Ali such as "Float like
a butterfly sting like a bee", or "I am King
of The World". But when it comes down to
delivering real, reactions for Ali, Smith
is both laughable and mediocre.

For instance, there is a scene where Ali (Smith)
sees the trouble of civil rights on tv, and
yet his reaction is just something like "Wow,

or uh oh". LOL Then later on in the movie, when
Ali is threatened with imprisonment for refusing
to fight in the Vietnam War (yes he refused to fight), he basically just looks stonefaced, and
doesn't have the serious type of reaction you
would expect someone going to prison would have.

However, there are a couple of good actors in the
movie (not Smith)
that prevents "Ali" from being
a total failure .

Jon Voight is great as legendary, ego maniac,
sports announcer Howard Cosell (who ended
his career in disgrace).

Cosell was one of the biggest sports
voices in history, he had memorable
interviews with Ali, sports team like
the Lakers and many other great sports
figures, but by the end of his career
Howard's ego got the best of him, and eventually no one wanted to see this guy
on the air.

Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X, also deserves
some honorable mention as he does get into
Malcolm X characters, and his view on the
civil rights movement, and some of his
problems with Ali.

The other big complaints about the film was
that the film concentrated on the early
life of Ali, but not his life afterwards in
the 1980's, as critc Roger Ebert states.

Now the DVD for the film, like the film is a bit
of a disappointment:

The only bonus feature for the film is
the trailer.

There is no behind the scenes look at the film, no
"making of" featurette, no nothing.

There is not even no commentary for the film!!!

Michael Mann either was too busy,
or too damn lazy to do the commentary, because it would have given him the chance to respond
to the criticism for this part of the film,
instead he chose not to do any commentary
for the film and so the criticism
for the film will stand.

In the end, while Michael Mann tried to do a fair
attempt at the making of "Ali" there are alot
of problems that prevent him from doing so.

First, of, his main star , Will Smith, is just
plain awful as "Ali" . Smith, probably got
paid his millions for the film, but he ain't
worth it.

Second, Mann, only covers the early years, and not
the later years for the legend, when he would take
beatings in the ring, and would later get
Parkinson's disease, which would leave Ali
partially paralyzed and barely to speak (Ali
speaks in mumbles).

In the end, I can't recommend "Ali" because
it just basically could have been a heck of alot
better, and the dvd without the commentary , just
basically sums up the film as basically an average
attempt at creating a biography for the heavyweight
champion.

The bright side, is that there is a new film/dvd
which is a real biography on Ali, showing actual
interviews and clips of the real Ali, so you're
better of checking that one out than this movie.