Fell asleep, not once, not twice, but three times

Rating: 4/10 (7 June 2002)

What could've been a very interesting story and possibly a great movie with some very good acting, turned out to be a movie that was had to stay awake through. Ali's movie has the pace of a snail. I was totally bored within the first 30 minutes of the film. I fell asleep 3 times while watching this snore fest. I think the film editor and director have done a little too much boxing themselves and have begun to "slow down" in their mental skills. I cannot see why everyone thought that Will Smith should've won an Academy Award for this. He played Ali as a flat 2D character, should've thrown in Billy Dee Williams, at least he would have played him with more flare. Smith had more intensity in playing Jim West in Wild Wild West than he did in this film, and that character and movie really sucked. And Jon Voight...come on, as Howard Cosell? I know that Hollywood likes to get on these "kiss their butt" type of deals, but Voight's acting at Cosell was not the best. Jon Tuturo playing the great ABC sportscaster had more depth than Voight's pathetic attempt. Between Smith and Voight, I think you had both ends of a book shelf. Hopefully they'll come out with a Director's Edition of this film, or better yet...a "Here's a better version" edition of it. If you haven't seen it yet....DON'T...save yourself the rental. And you have, you should be demanding your money back for it. I'm so sorry they decided to wreck another 20th century icon of sports with a poor movie based on his life. And Smith is not the end all, be all of actors out there. Ok bud, you used to be the Fresh Prince, now we should call you the Fresh Snore.