Stellead
Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Candida
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
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.
Danny Blankenship
"Ali" is more than just a boxing movie about perhaps the greatest heavyweight champ to have ever lived, it's also a personal historic drama about the man's life of struggle to find who he was in and outside of the ring. Actor Will Smith is true to form in his performance as Ali and Jon Voight is memorable as sports broadcasting announcer Howard Cosell, as their screen chemistry is in fine form and plus the boxing action shown seemed real and action packed.The film follows over a ten year period with Muhammad Ali winning the title at a young age upsetting Sonny Liston, and then his first love is played just fine by Will Smith's real life wife Jada Pinkett Smith, as their would be many loves and ladies in Ali's life. Then the film is a showcase about Ali's struggles to accept and reveal his real religion that being Islam. And this even causes him to stand up and speak out against the war and say no to a draft. And to complicate matters it's a legal conviction and a fist from Joe Frazier that sends Ali spinning for awhile. Yet thru faith and work all turns around for Ali.Then it's on to "The Rumble in the Jungle" against the now champ young and big powerful George Foreman in "Zaire" which as all knows turns out to be the defining moment for Ali's life in and out of the boxing ring. Overall well done film that's long with facts and drama it shows that a legend of sports can be historic for the way he fought in and out of the ring as Ali was a fighter on all matters of belief and life.
dee.reid
Michael Mann's 2001 biopic of "The Greatest" heavyweight boxer that ever lived, Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali (expertly played here by Will Smith, in a rightfully Oscar-nominated performance) is a beautiful film biopic about a beautiful man and a wonderful human being. A controversial and polarizing figure at the peak of his fame, he has earned his spot in sports history and as one of the greatest icons of the Civil Rights Movement. Set over the course of 1964 to 1974 - his peak years - the film covers Muhammad Ali's historic win against Sonny Liston on February 25th 1964, to become the new heavyweight champion of the world; their equally historic rematch a little over a year later on May 25th, 1965 (just as an aside, I found a colorized version of Neil Leifer's famous photograph of Ali standing over the downed Sonny Liston and I have it saved on my computer as a wallpaper); Clay's joining the Nation of Islam and changing his name to "Muhammad Ali"; his friendships with devoted corner-man Drew "Bundini" Brown (Jamie Foxx), Howard Cosell (Jon Voight), trainer Angelo Dundee (the late Ron Silver), photographer Howard Bingham (Jeffrey Wright) and especially, Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles); his numerous affairs; to his refusal to be drafted into the Armed Services for the growing U.S. war in Vietnam; his comeback in the early 1970s and the slew of historic matches he fought then; and concluding with his historic match in Zaire with George Foreman on October 30th, 1974 ("The Rumble in the Jungle"), to reclaim the title of world heavyweight champion (which he had been stripped of seven years earlier in 1967 over his anti-war stance). And thus we witness a legend being born. Look at me using the word "historic" so many times; that's the feeling that Mann's film, and Smith's brilliant portrayal, gets out of the viewer. You're watching history being meticulously recreated by a skilled team of actors and filmmakers. There's a reason why Muhammad Ali's bouts are considered some of the greatest fights the sport of boxing has ever seen: Ali brought a brashness and confidence (some might call it arrogance), and a bravado, and beauty and grace - not to mention a poetic lyricism - to the ring that the sport had never seen before. And the sport of boxing is never likely to ever see a figure as larger-than-life and amazing as the one and only, Muhammad Ali, a.k.a., "The Greatest."10/10
Desertman84
Ali is a biographical film that film tells the story of the boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, from 1964 to 1974. Michael Mann directs.The story features the following events:his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston;his conversion to Islam; criticism of the Vietnam War; banishment from boxing; his return to the ring against Joe Frazier in 1971;and when he won once again the heavyweight title by taking it by upsetting George Foreman in 1974.When a filmmaker decides to make a film on Ali,who considers himself The Greatest,one must also expect the greatest film to be made about him.Unfortunately,it does not meet those standards.Despite the fact that Will Smith was able to capture the persona of The Greatest and willed himself to be Muhammad Ali,the script is far from being engaging.It is more concerned about details of the events of his life that it serves like a documentary rather than an entertaining film about the champ.Added to that,the viewer does not get to know the man more while watching it as the viewer is treated to a very long film more about the events that happened rather than the giving us the glimpse of the most charismatic boxer who had fun with his fame when he was the most known athlete of the world.
