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Dan Owen reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Cert: R
- Cat.no: 06689
- Running time: 156 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 28
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $27.95
- Extras: Trailer
Director:
- Michael Mann
Producers:
- Paul Ardaji, A. Kitman Ho, James Lassiter, Michael Mann and Jon Peters
Screenplay:
- Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Eric Roth and Michael Mann
Music:
- Pieter Bourke
Cast:
- Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali: Will Smith
Howard Cosell: Jon Voight
Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown: Jamie Foxx
Sonji: Jada Pinkett Smith
Muhammad Aliis undoubtedly one of the greatest sportsmen the world hasever known. He wasn’t just a world-class athlete, either – he was also aquick-witted, engaging showman off-screen who led a colourful andinteresting career. As such, his life story has been recounted numeroustimes in the past to varying degrees of success. The latest in anot-so-illustrious series of Ali biopics is this – Michael Mann‘s “Ali”,starring Will Smith.
Mann is a prolific director who recently won critical acclaim withThe Insiderand its conspiratorial tobacco industry storyline, which wasbased on a true story. Blessed with great technical skill and aserious-minded no-nonsense attitude in all his films, Mann was anexcellent choice to direct another real-life story – that of CassiusClay, the boxer who would come to dominate the boxing world as MuhammadAli.
Sadly, “Ali” finds Mann faltering in several key areas. That’s not tosay this is a truly abysmal movie – it’s still the best of the Alibiopics – but it’s still a huge disappointment given the talentbehind-the-scenes, the rich story possibilities and a truly excellentWill Smith firing on all cylinders.
The film is neatly directed, with great production values to ground theproduction in its 60s-70s time period, but the fight choreographylacks drama and bite, and there aren’t that many impressive momentsalong the way to stick in the mind. Everything looks nice enough, butit’s a lukewarm retelling of the Ali legend.
Will Smith, at first a strange choice, completely embodied the role.There has never been anyone before Smith who has so perfectly mimickedAli’s mannerisms and clipped voice. True, Smith’s pitch-perfect momentsare all those where existing footage exists to be copied (TV interviews,and the like) but even the scenes ‘behind closed doors’ have abelievable air to them. Smith is by far the best thing in the movie, andthe one component that elevates the film above its predecessors -despite its own flaws.
What desperately drags the film down is the lack of visual pizzazz inthe fight scenes. The first bout comes startlingly early in the film andis moderately engaging. As things progress you expect each fight toincrease in efficiency and power, but by the time the infamous ‘RumbleIn The Jungle’ bout with George Forman arrives… it’s possibly theworst bout of them all, with Ali seemingly stuck on the ropes in everyround and the choreography as samey as usual.
Now, I know they can’t change history. If Ali was stuck on the ropes forthat bout, they can’t change the past (take noteU-571)…but the reason Ali had difficulty in that round was because of his “old age”compared to the youthful Forman.
This age difference is never clear in “Ali”, as the sense of timethroughout the movie is very badly handled. Newcomers to the Ali storywill no doubt assess this entire film to be taking place over the courseof a few years… when in fact over a decade has supposedly passed!
Smith does not age visibly, and there are no time captions throughoutthe film to help you keep track of elapsed months and years. Thenarrative just becomes one long stream of events tacked onto each other.This is nicely exemplified by the appearances of the women in Ali’slife. The film makes it appear that Ali beds or married every singlewoman he meets – when in fact the truth is obviously far more realistic.
The supporting cast are fine, but only Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight standout from a mixed crowd. Voight’s role is minor, and difficult to fathomwhy it was deemed deserving of an Oscar nomination, to be truthful, butit’s still a welcome facet to the film. Ali may be The Greatest, but itwould have been nice to have more breaks away from him occasionallybecause secondary characters wind up looking like props for Smith toplay off.
All the important bases of Ali’s life are covered – from his conversionto the Islamic religion, to his refusal to fight in Vietnam. Suchpotential hotbeds of drama and biting satire at the racist underbelly of60s America are brushed under the carpet too quickly. Nothing engagesthe emotions – and this is easily the best sporting biography they couldbe translating to the big-screen!
Overall, “Ali” is a failure in most things. The events presented hereare relatively recent, so a re-enactment of them is always difficult.The documentary “We Were Kings” covers all the bases “Ali” does, butwith real footage starring the real Muhammad Ali. You can’t compete withthat. The film also isn’t the true biopic many will be expecting, as itskips over Ali’s childhood entirely (save a few short flashbacks), andends after The Rumble In The Jungle – not daring to touch on Ali’sknockout in 1980 or his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
The filmmakers should have lovingly over-dramatized the fight sequencesand roused the emotions more with the magic of film (a bombastic musicscore, bone crushing sound-effects?). But no. “Ali” is a veryworkmanlike adaptation, lacking true movie magic. It’s a shame WillSmith’s efforts to own the role was, in the end, cruelly wasted by aformulaic script and misfiring director. Not a total disaster, butneither a true testament to the amazing story of Ali’s life.
“Ali” arrives in sturdy Amaray case, but sadly with just the one disk.For a film that you’d assume would arrive with a lot ofbells-and-whistles, it disappoints more than the film itself. The menuscreens are boring still images, although easy to navigate through. Somuch could have been made of this DVD in all departments, but no efforthas been made.
The picture is in 2.35:1 widescreen anamorphic ratio, and while thepicture isn’t bad, it’s not particularly memorable. It’s often drenchedin darkness and gloom, never really having much chance to shine.However, the way this film was shot was never going to really mean adetail rich DVD transfer.
The audio is occasionally very good, but more often than not you’llforget this is meant to be a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. There aren’t manyscenes that are actually able to pack a punch with rear speakers,although the crowd chants during the boxing matches can be fairly good.Fundamentally, the film just doesn’t have many of the type of scenessonic delight demands.
The Extra Features are really where this DVD falls down. There are none- beyond a Theatrical Trailer (itself buried beneath trailers for “MenIn Black II” and “Spiderman”!). For a film based on Muhammad Ali, you’dquite rightly be expecting much more. Documentaries on the real manhimself, commentary by Mann and Smith, a Making Of featurette, anything!But you’re royally short-changed with this DVD. I’d be more frustratedif that ‘Spiderman’ trailer wasn’t so damned good!
So there it is. In the categories that really matter, the DVD iscompetent enough. But the hidden depths DVD should be giving viewers isabsent. This fact, coupled with a mediocre film, means I can’t reallyrecommend this film for people who aren’t big Will Smith fans or loveMuhammad Ali. Rent “We Were Kings” for a fraction of the price and twicethe enjoyment.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.