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ALI Send This Review to a Friend
One of the toughest things for a filmmaker to do is to make a biographical film about someone still in the public eye, especially true when the figure is a larger-than-life character like Muhammad Ali. Today Ali is ravaged by illness, but in his public appearances still flashes the wit and the spirit that made him one of the sports world's most fascinating figures as well as a great boxer, or "the greatest" as he liked to say.
In Michael Mann's ambitious and rousing new film, Will Smith plunges into the title role with intelligence and zest. He doesn't have the powerful physical appearance of the young Ali, but he compensates for that by nailing down Ali's overall bearing and the fierce independence that he flashed, independence that got him into trouble when he refused to go into the Army and fight in Vietnam, a war that was against his religious principles but also one he saw as a wrong battle for African-Americans to fight.
Smith is best when he is asserting Ali's spirit and standing up for himself, whether as a conscientious objector or in the boxing world known for the way fighters are exploited by hangers-on. He does an excellent job conveying Ali's decision to join the Nation of Islam and the pride he takes in his new affiliation, as well as his humorous side and his relations with women. The film doesn't flinch from showing the injustice done to him as the boxing authorities stripped his title away in retaliation for his stand on Vietnam, which even led to a prison sentence, fortunately never served because U.S. Supreme Court reversed the conviction.
Any film involving Ali, of course, must include plenty of fight footage, which Mann's work does. Smith does his best here, but it is impossible to perfectly simulate the real Ali, a creature of beauty in the ring with a lethal punch and the fanciest of footwork. If you want the real thing, you can go to a documentary. But Mann's "Ali" does a creditable job. This should be a real breakthrough performance for Smith, who rises to the challenge and helps make "Ali" an enticing, historically interesting drama well worth watching. A Columbia Pictures release.
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