"Ali" misses essence of Ali

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2008)

It's difficult to comprehend how "Ali" can be too long and incomplete, can feature an excellent portrayal of the world's most charismatic person and be boring, and have many riveting scenes, but fail as a drama.
Yet, "Ali" is incomplete, boring, and a failed movie. The reason is that the movie misses a large part of the essence of Muhammad Ali.
"Ali is often unfocused and unclear, bouncing from topic to topic and spending too much time on things like Ali's womanizing and an incredible 46 minutes in Zaire while ignoring large parts of his boxing career and inaccurately portraying some of his and The Nation of Islam's history.
The movie should have focused on four areas where Ali was distinctive  his fight against the U.S. military, his religion, his personality, and his boxing ability. The movie includes a lot of material on all four of these subjects, but has a severe point-of-view problem.
You can't understand the essence and impact of Ali without scenes which show how America viewed him. He was arguably the most HATED person in the USA for a few years in the 1960s and, perhaps, beyond and is now one of the most admired and popular people in the world. The transition was a result of Ali being extremely courageous, brash and charismatic.
Yet, you'd never know from watching this movie that Ali was hated by the general public. Here is how I would have presented Ali and his distinctiveness:
HIS FIGHT AGAINST THE MILITARY: I would have started the movie with Ali standing up to the U.S. government in 1966 when it drafted him into the Army and ended it with a scene showing how popular he became, perhaps the 1996 torch lighting ceremony at the Atlanta Olympics.
Thus, I'd emphasize the powerful evading-the-draft scenes in "Ali," add scenes that showed how Americans viewed him during the Vietnam War, and include flashbacks with Ali winning the Olympics and world title, experiencing the evils of segregation, and gravitating toward Islam.
Returning to live action, I'd show how Ali sacrificed the three-plus best years of his boxing career because of his strong principles. Interspersing Ali's legal battles with evidence that Americans avidly supported the Vietnam War in 1966, but opposed it by 1971, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ali, could convey how perceptions of "The Greatest" changed.
HIS RELIGION: I'd be more explicit and accurate about how Ali joining The Nation of Islam contributed to Americans' hatred of him.
The movie needed to explain the religion and Ali's theology more clearly (Ali saying "I'll be who I want to be, not what you want me to be" doesn't cut it) and show how Americans regarded Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and the religion itself as racist and dangerous. I'd also cut out the government spook nonsense and accurately explain the Malcolm-Elijah tiff (Malcolm was expelled for condoning JFK's assassination) or drop the subject.
HIS PERSONALITY: The movie did a good job of showing Ali's personality, but not how it offended millions of people. I'm too young to recall the war debate, but I remember how my father despised Ali in the 1970s because he regularly bragged about himself and denigrated others.
Americans despise the selfish, arrogant athletes of 2008, but Ali's personality was far more selfish and arrogant than Barry Bonds' and others. "Ali" should have illustrated how Americans were turned off by Ali's personality by emphasizing his conflict with Joe Frazier. Millions sided with the hard-working, soft-spoken Christian. He still hates Ali, who called him a gorilla.
HIS BOXING ABILITY: Ali was unique. He transformed the image of a profession dominated by inarticulate brutes who attacked and attacked because he had incredible defensive abilities, evasiveness, footwork, dancing, and athleticism as well as very fast hands.
The movie shows little of his dancing  and certainly gives no evidence that this was distinctive. "Ali" needed to include perspectives of boxing analysts who could explain to viewers how truly great he was. It also should have had a five- to 10-minute "Raging Bull"-style summary of his dozens of victories that weren't even mentioned.
Interestingly, the boxing scenes were absolutely fabulous although they didn't convey the essence of Ali. They were extremely realistic unlike the rock 'em/sock 'em robot scenes of "Rocky" and other movies which show Boxer A smashing Boxer B 20 times in a row before somehow Boxer B comes back as if he hadn't been hit at all. I was so impressed by the "Ali" boxing scenes that I was tempted to go back to my review of "Rocky" and deduct a point.
Where to cut? Well, Ali's womanizing was NOT distinctive. A huge percentage of famous people womanize. Ali was too interesting to dredge up his relationships, and they detract from the more interesting elements of his life. Yes, he said he was religious. Grow up America. Religious people cheat too  and always have.
As for the 46 minutes on Zaire, if the Ali-Foreman battle was that interesting, it should be a separate movie. Wait a second. It was  "When We Were Kings." Forty-six minutes here is pointless repetition. Also: I don't care about Bundini Brown's personal problems. He should have been used to illustrate how he helped Ali become a quasi-poet.
As I said in my first graph, the movie has many positive elements. Will Smith, for example, has Ali's cadences and attitude down pat and deserved an Oscar nomination. He doesn't quite convey his charisma, but no one can.
I give "Ali" a 6.
ZWrite