Will Smith shows his range; too bad script doesn't quite match up

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2007)

Hey, it's not the greatest, but if you're an Ali fan or a Will Smith fan, which covers just about all righteous folk, you should catch it. Somewhat overlong due to two lengthy "mood" segments: the opening sequence, where we see various shots of Ali training for the 1st Sonny Liston fight cut with Sam Cooke singing in all-black night club and flashbacks of little Cassius Clay being exposed to racism at the back of the bus through newspaper accounts of the Emmett Till lynching. Okay, we get the background, does it have to go on so damn long? Just an excuse to pad the soundtrack. Likewise the training run through Manila  takes way too long to hammer on the obvious of how poor the country was under its rapacious government and how much Ali was admired by the people.
If you're expecting heavy ring action, you'll be somewhat disappointed. Most of film is about Ali's relationship with the Nation of Islam, which is shown warts and all. Mario Van Peeples plays a rather anemic Malcolm X, whom Ali cuts off because of his increasing interest in violent action. Unfortunately, Ali comes off as something of a prig here. Then Ali's cold-blooded treatment of his first two wives isn't sugar-coated  he dumps the first (Jada Pinkett-Smith, who shines) because she isn't a good Muslim draped in veils, and boots the second, who IS a good Muslim, because he gets bored with her and can't keep his pants zipped. The film ends with the Rumble in the Jungle, and that feels a little flat. I was expecting more of a biopic, starting with the Olympics and maybe ending with his retirement. I'm so prosaic.
Will Smith manages the difficult task of becoming Ali without descending into caricature. Damn, he even looks like him  it's the hair, plus the added bulk. But Jon Voight as Howard Cosell is superb. You won't recognize him, the make-up is so good. He presents a more thoughtful Howard than the ego-maniacal version played by John Turturro in the TV movie Monday NIGHT MAYHEM (which, I admit, was entertaining nonetheless). The physical casting is astonishingly good  the Joe Frazier and George Foreman actors are almost dead ringers. And there's a silent cameo for LeVar Burton playing M.L. King Jr.  and frighteningly like him. Overall, ALI is a more sober experience than you might think, given Ali's gift for quips and outrageous public behavior. There are a number of the hilarious exchanges between Ali and Cosell, and Ali being mouthy at weigh-ins, and they still get huge laughs after all these years. But Ali was down and out for a number of years, and we're not allowed to forget that.