Good and Bad

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2001)

They call Ali the greatest fighter in the history of professional boxing. Even more, he's admired as one of the top 2-3 athletes of the 20th century. When one goes to see a movie entitled "Ali", one expects to walk out of the theater with a clearer understanding of why Ali deserves such accolades. Unfortunately, this movie does not come close to providing such an understanding.
If I were not an Ali fan, I would have left the theatre saying "so what?" Why do people think he was great? What was so special about the Ali that this film portrayed? He was no more than a loud mouth boxer who won a couple of big fights and constantly cheated on his wife. If this film did truly capture the essential Ali, then Ali could not have been the greatest. Of course, Ali was the greatest. That's why this film is a failure.

Yet, Will Smith does a superb job as Ali. He moves like Ali, talks like Ali and gives an excellent overall performance. The supporting cast were also fantastic. The problem is that they were given a somewhat boring rendition of Ali's life to portray, and were hampered by poor directing. It's a real shame because given a more insightful and interesting script Will could have easily made this one of the top 2-3 films of the year.
This film would have been better suited for TV than the big screen. It would have made a better mini-series or single season drama than a movie. Michael Mann was out of his league and his element with this one.

Overall, the movie is worth seeing if you are an Ali fan. Otherwise, you may not understand various parts of the film, and are better off renting the ESPN Sports Century classic on Ali. It does a much better job than Mann does.
-- DP.