A Wonderful, Beautiful,Moving and Timeless Celebration of Ali's life but with two major flaws

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2006)

This movie would be highly appreciated if it was just marketed as a celebration of Ali's life but unfortunately it wasn't it was marketed as a film to teach you more about Ali's life, which it doesn't. The film covers arguably Ali's most eventful decade 1964-1974 ending with Ali's world title bout with George Foreman and beginning with first world title shot against Sonny Liston. Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx and Mario and Van Peebles are outstanding in their roles of Muhammad Ali, Howard Cossell, Bundini Brown and Malcolm X respectively. The score is also excellent, the direction is also telling, but the second major flaw is the editing, where they skip straight from Ali's first loss against Frazier in 1971 to the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 which as a result cuts out all of Ali's 'comeback period', and the film doesn't really then doesn't recover its boxing authenticity, also many people's criticism of the film is criticism of the man Ali himself not the film so that's disappointing. Apart from the editing and the marketing it was a perfect film about undoubtedly one of the finest athletes of the 20th Century. I highly recommend this film to those seeking a celebration of Ali's life but I won't to those seeking a better understanding.