The Champ aint here!

Rating: Null/10 (10 March 2002)

(IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THE 'RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE' PORTION OF MUHAMMED'S LIFE AND HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE THEN CONSIDER THIS A SPOILER WARNING. Also if you plan on seeing the film then this would detract from the experience.)
I am 100% in agreement with the Academy on this one. Smith's actual acting is fine, voights inhabitation of a news presenter I know nothing about is also sturdy but the movie as a work is extremely flawed.
First up the other good points though. Alot of the ring action, as film drama is gut wrenching. I don't know if that is simply because Rocky is one of very few boxing movies I have seen though. All but the Rumble in the Jungle makes you sweat, the humour where present is successful aswell; but the rest of my review is griping.
Firstly, the make or break element of the movie; sadly breaks it. Smith plays undaunted arrogance (with the exception of the crowning Sonny Liston win; quite a funny moment occurs) well but he was not PLAYING Muhammed Ali. What little I know of the man is from a knowledgable elder and the Oscar winning doco "When We Were Kings". You could see in much of the leadup (to the Rumble in the Jungle)in that doco that there was fear behind Ali's eyes. The man also seemed to have a semi-serious approach to much of what he said publically, he wasn't always 100% stern, there was a beautiful irony inherent, this does not come across. The casting of Smith is something I would expect to see in a spoof about Hollywood and how they popcorn everything up. Smith must have done next to no body-building for the part and it shows. Ali may not have been big for a heavyweight but he was and is certainly alot bigger (build wise) than Will Smith, I could never get past it just being Smith playing a role.
None of what actually made the man a great boxer comes across, and the preparation subterfuge for the Rumble in the Jungle is ultimately removed, robbing the films climax of tension. It is, not too pointedly, spoken of in the doco that Ali spent sparring sessions preparing for rib punches and rope-a-doping, vital to his win. And little of the pessimism about the champs return comes across. Before the fight the documentary tells us that the minutes before Ali left the changeroom felt like a last supper. His supporters thought that he was going out to an inevitable loss, it was in that room that Ali's optimism and cheer brought morale up among them which would have been PERFECT for a hollywood movie. There is none of this in the movie, Mann likes that sort of stuff ('Heat')and yet he allowed its removal.
We also don't learn very much at all about Ali as a person, and as a previous reviewer said it only covers a neat decade of his life, nothing of his Gold medal fiasco is in it, which is another major part of his career and public life (his medal in the 96 Atlanta Olympics is tied in with it). We also know nothing of his childhood or what his early ambitions were, what actually MADE him, all that supposedly 'corny' stuff that most biopics can't resist including. If you want an informative and tense telling of the famous George Foreman fight watch the documentary, and there is now a DVD with all the footage of his fights and interviews you could want.
See this or don't see it, that quite honestly is good advice. Smith fans or fans of actors in general should find it a good troubleshoot experience. Three hours should never feel this shortcoming.
7/10