Slightly entertaining, but not "the greatest".

Rating: 6/10 (3 March 2002)

It's not really the fact that I was expecting more from this film, or simply because Michael Mann was going to be in the directors seat for this one, but this movie does in fact fall slightly short of the mark. The directing unfortunately is not that great (especially from a movie that is supposedly an Oscar candidate), where at times, one felt the camera was being shaken too much and too often in order to create that "authentic" feel. In addition, when looking at Will Smith one cannot stop remembering him being a naughty kid nephew, fighting aliens, or driving fast cars - which obviously does not help with the authenticity of creating Muhammed Ali.
One could say that the good points come from the fight scenes, and at times Smith does vaguely resemble Ali (in looks and voice) where some of those famous quotes will bring a smile to everyone's face. Unfortunately it's not enough, and what could have been a classic, is turned average, not because little effort had been put into the movie, but simply because it's too difficult to re-create something that genuinely is such a classic.
Rating: 3/5