The Greatest... Nearly

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2006)

Ali is a very interesting film that succeeds on many levels that is very brave for covering certain areas of Ali's life that some people will not get. This film is not a portrait of Ali's boxing career, but rather his political activism, involvement in the civil rights movement and his relationship with the Nation of Islam.
Biopics are tricky things, and surely, the life of Muhammad Ali could have been covered a thousand different ways. What Michael Mann knows, is that the main "rise and fall" story would have been covered in numerous documentaries. Ali, as a result is an intriguing look into parts of Ali's life that the populous may not be familiar with.
As for the film, if you can get past this factor, (and for me, it wasn't a struggle at all, but a welcome) the film has a great script, (jumping straight in to Ali's first title fight) cinematography and all that a film usually needs to be good. The acting in particular is exceptional. Will Smith used to be the guy from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air remember? Jamie Foxx was hilarious, Jon Voight was perfect and Mario Van Peebles delivered in the role he was born to play. The film is quite stylish at times, especially early on, heavy on music, though I don't really have an opinion on whether it helped the film or not, (it worked most of the time, actually) just thought I'd throw that in.
Ali is a great film, more of a civil rights struggle film than a boxing movie. If you're expecting the usual story, of Ali's boxing career you may have to wait for another Ali film to be made. (I suspect that there will be eventually.) For now though, I'm certainly not complaining.