a knockout

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2001)

To say that director Michael Mann and Will Smith had a formidible task making this film is a true understatement. How can you make a biographical film that would do justice to one of the most recognized figures of this century? (In a poll, more people knew Ali then knew the US President). I saw this film just last night and I think they pulled it off with flying colors. This is the best film biography since Coal Miner's Daughter. Will Smith actually trained for a year and put on over 30 pounds to play Ali, he did all of his own fighting as well. He is awesome. He captures Ali's colorful personality, humor and bravado. The fight scenes are wonderful and you feel like you are watching the real thing, especially the fight with George Foreman at the end. The only thing is that this film only covered certain parts of Ali's life. It told nothing of his early years, his Olympic victories, his early fights, his fights with Ken Norton and the Thrilla in Manilla with Joe Friazer. I also think they should have covered his later years as well (well Ali's life since boxing has been so tragic maybe it would have been too sad). All in all this is a great film from the man who directed Thief and Manhunter. I also wanted to mention Jon Voight's wonderful performance as the mouth that bored Howard Cosell. I used to watch him cover ABC boxing and Voight gives a wonderfully hammy performance.