Mediocre

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2002)

As you might know, the movie covers Ali's prime years between 1964-1974. As a huge Muhammad Ali, I HATE to say it, but this movie just didn't do it for me. Maybe it's because I know so much about Ali's best years that I found myself bored to tears. Will Smith did a good job, especially when he was playing an angry Ali. But comically, Smith just made me want to see the real Ali. I found it telling of how unique Ali really is when a really funny guy like Smith is unable to capture the spontaneous comedy of the real Ali. Still, Smith gave a good performance as Ali.
Jon Voight did a great job as Howard Cosell. And Mario Van Peebles, who has become synonymous with bad films in some circles, did a good job portraying Malcolm X. Jamie Foxx also did a funny Bundini Brown, although I don't think he really captured the eccentric personality that was the real Bundini. I saw the film with one of my best friends and he summed up the film best: "It's a Cliff's Notes on Ali's best years." They also briefly touched upon what made Ali tick, but didn't really follow through. I thought it was cool that the film explored Ali's relationship with Malcolm X. The fight scenes were well-done. There were a lot of little details that I thought were mistakes albeit unimportant to the story that only a hardcore boxing fanatic would know.
Ali has to be one of the most if not THE most heavily documented sports figures of all time, and this portion of his life happens to be extremely well documented. This is probably why the movie, especially the fight scenes, bored me. I've seen the real fights, the real footage, and the real story as told in countless documentaries. I think the film tried to recreate the magic already told by countless documentaries and that's why it failed. It just didn't seem real.
Somebody said that the reason Ali wasn't garnering major boxoffice was because the subject matter wasn't that attractive anymore. I disagree with that vehemently. Let me put it this way, I, as a HUGE Ali fan, almost didn't see this. The word of mouth wasn't good and I was turned off by the fact that it only covered Ali's best years.
Don't get me wrong though. I sympathize with the film makers because I think this was an incredibly ambitious movie. Anyone trying to tell Ali's story has got a lot of guts. Ali has been in the spotlight since the early 60s and his story is an epic one. And his life deals with more than just a great boxing career. So I do give those involved high marks for their courage in undertaking this task because even I wouldn't want the job of making an Ali movie. But unfortunately, this doesn't change my opinion that the movie is poorly paced and ultimately somewhat boring.
I would probably only recommend the film to those who aren't too familiar with Ali. I would suggest the Academy Award winning documentary "When We Were Kings" which gives you the complete rundown of Ali's historic fight with George Foreman.
Here's my critique summary: Good acting, lousy movie.