Raging Bulls**t

Rating: 5/10 (30 September 2005)

"Ali" is a decidedly average biopic which fails to do justice to a unique and often controversial sporting figure.
Given that the years 1964 - 1974 were a monumental period of strife and upheaval in most Americans' lives - never mind someone like Mohammed Ali, the dramatisation of these events is a curiously dull and uninspiring affair.
Characters are undeveloped; dialogue is flabby and inconsequential. For unnecessarily large portions of this movie, "Ali" resembles a pretentious and self indulgent pop video. In fact you could quite easily leave the room, return twenty minutes later, and discover that nothing of any great consequence has happened.
Considering that this movie is almost three hours long, the audience's rapidly thinning patience is occasionally rewarded. The fight sequences (notably the legendary bouts with Sonny Liston) are tense and wonderfully choreographed. Will Smith also delivers an energetic and convincing character portrayal- which is just as well because he looks nothing like him.
In short, a disappointing and over-hyped film. The definitive story of this remarkable human being remains to be written.