IMDb goofed

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2006)

First off, IMDb goofed. In the "goofs" section of the films facts they claim that the fight in which George Foreman dethroned Joe Frazier was only shown to paying customers via closed circuit television thus making it impossible for Ali and his friends to be watching the fight in his hotel room. Well, as a boy of twelve I clearly remember the fight being broadcast live on ABC's" Wide World of Sports" and being amazed at the pummeling Frazier received. We did not have a closed circuit hook up in our house. Think I'm just filling in the blanks of a faulty childhood memory? Well check out the following link for proof...
http://espn.go.com/abcsports/wwos/milestones/1970s.html
As far as the movie goes, I give it a solid "B". A bit preachy but not overly so. A bit revisionist concerning the relationship between Ali and Frazier. Prior to and right up to the Thrilla in Manila Ali never showed anything but contempt for Frazier. I still remember his vicious racist rantings comparing Joe Frazier to a gorilla and ironically implying that somehow Frazier was "the white man's champion". Excellent performance by Jon Voigt as expected. Will Smith's performance was acceptable. Unfortunately, whenever an actor puts on muscle, or adds pounds, or loses weight, etc. in order to bear a closer physical resemblance to the real-life subject of a bio-pic...most critics somehow interpret this as an acting tour de force.