a mess of a movie

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 2002)

Ali is, alas, a mess of a movie, thanks to Michael Mann's self-indulgence and lack of focus. I have admired his previous work, which makes his utter incompetence here so surprising. Mann refuses to impose any narrative structure onto Ali's life story, so we get scenes that go nowhere, characters whose significance in Ali's life appears to be non-existant, and some scenes that don't have anything to do with Ali at all. Some scenes are extended beyong tedium, such as a sequence of Ali doing roadwork in preparation for the Rumble in the Jungle.
The film does feature fine performances from Will Smith (who captures a young Ali's bravado), Mario Van Peebles (who deserved an Oscar nomination as Malcolm X), Jamie Foxx, Mykaleti Williamson and Ron Silver. Jon Voight did get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Howard Cosell, but he merely does a competent impersonation and besides, Cosell was too small a player in Ali' life and in this film to warrent it.
I'm not saying I wanted an old fashioned bio-pic like The Life of Emile Zola or The Babe Ruth Story, where reality is chucked in favor of a cliche riddled plot; but as a writer/director Mann had to make decisions about what to focus on and what to leave out, and he didn't make those decisions. I give it a 4 out of 10.