Ali
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Movie Reviews of Ali
Movie Review: Packs a Solid Punch
Summary: 5 Stars
Ali is a biopic directed by Michael Mann that successfully covers legendary boxing icon Muhammad Ali's benchmarks over a ten-year time frame. The film opens as Cassius Clay prepares for his fight against heavy weight titleholder Sonny Liston. `That man's so ugly, when he sweat... the sweat run backwards off his forehand just to stay away from his face.' The famous `Louisville Lip' opens up as Clay taunts his opponent during a press conference.
From that point on, there is no doubt that Will Smith did a brilliant job in portraying one of the greatest of all time: from the hard work Smith put in at the gym to look and move like Ali, to Smith's emulation of Ali's persona, Smith's talent and achievement is undeniable.
Ali is set in the 1960s, a time of the struggle for civil rights and also a time of war. It is a docudrama that is faithful to historical context. It depicts Ali's at first brotherly relationship with Malcolm X, which slowly deteriorates as X drifts away from the Nation. It also boldly depicts Elijah Muhammad's blatant behavior towards his followers. Ali's wartime struggle is also successfully portrayed as the film dedicates a big part to show his three-year slump after he refuses to join the army on moral grounds.
Some criticized Mann for taking `docudrama liberties' as he depicts the relationship between Ali and Howard Cosell more intimate than it really was and for assuming that Sonny Liston DID apply a substance on his gloves before his fight with Ali. But these are minor `Hollywood touches' that Mann uses to appeal to a wider audience and hardly cause a drag to the great picture.
The only real disappointment of the movie is that it solely focuses on the `greatness' of Ali instead of telling a wholesome life story. It doesn't tell us how Cassius Clay grew up, learnt to box, and gradually made his transformation into Ali. The film also concludes after the `Rumble in the Jungle' fight between Ali and George Foreman; it doesn't deal with Ali's later life after catching Parkinson's.
The power and inspiration of Ali is undisputable, and probably one of the most successful docudrama ever made. `Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.' No film about The Champ would ever come close to touching Ali.
Movie Review: Best movie ever made that gets inside someones head.
Summary: 5 Stars
In the reviews what ive seen is everyone here who says that hated the movie, Ali, had very poor excuses for hating it. They are not at all well thought out because of the fact they expected to much from this film, when in fact they were missing what I believe was a very good point for the movie. I remember seeing one guys review saying that the films boxing scenes were poorly done and had bad sound editing throughout the movie. Who ever said that missed the point as did the rest of those people who gave the movie bad reviews.No the movie does not reveal very many new things about Ali's life, but that was not its intension. no the movie does not portry his life very well at all, but that was not its intention. I think everyone who gave this film a bad rating were being to critcal and picky. They wanted the movie to show "new" things about his life, they wanted it to show "Action" and "suspense". Every single one of you who says this is WRONG.
Heres what the PURPOSE of the film was. In the fight scene with Sonny Liston, Liston hits Ali in the chest and knocks him against the ropes. Usually a fighters eyes will shut or his head will bob down. But what happenes is, the camera focuses in on Will Smiths face and goes to slow motion, showing where Alis eyes were focused. Right on Liston. His eyes weren't on anyone else but Liston. This is the focus of the film, to get inside Ali's head. Watch the Foreman fight, you hear Ali's thoughts, he is talking to himself and drowning out everyother sound out there. The guy who said the movie had bad sound editing, he wasn't thinking. It was done that way on purpose, because alot of the times when the sound was where you could barely hear it, it was that way because the director doesn't want you to pay attention to the sound, he wants you to pay attention to whats surrounding Ali and how he reacts.
This movie does an extremely good job at what it is trying to portray. But people who dont like it are to closed minded to relize this.
Movie Review: the champ is here!
Summary: 5 Stars
Will Smith playing Muhammad Ali? Yes, indeed, and surprisingly enough, he does a fantastic job. While he doesn't look too much like Ali, Will Smith bulked up and did a credible job in the ring as Ali (isn't film wonderful?). Where Will Smith really shone was outside the ring, getting to perform as Ali the man. It is in the human portrayal of Muhammad Ali that Will Smith disappears and we can believe that it truly is Ali himself. Ali was directed by Michael Mann (The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans) and the movie has a slow, deliberate pacing that perfectly serves the film. We get to savor the moments on screen instead of being rushed to the next bit of Ali spitting out beautiful dialogue in rhyme. While it is equally as important to have Ali talking as it is to have him fighting, the scenes that linger a moment or two longer than one might expect help give the overall tone to the film. The perfect example of this is the scene where Ali is dancing with the woman who would become his first wife. The scene is perfectly captured, slowly dancing to the music and it really puts the emotion into the scene. Holding the shot longer helped the scene and the movie.
The movie begins with young Cassius Clay preparing to fight Sonny Liston for the first time and for the championship. The film follows his life and career through Ali winning the championship, marriages (plural), changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, refusing the draft, the Ali-Frazier fight, and finally ends with the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman.
I don't know very much about the life of Muhammad Ali, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the film. Without that knowledge, I can only judge "Ali" on its own merits. This is a fine film with excellent performances (Jon Voight as Howard Cosell stands out, as does Will Smith) and is without question is worth watching.
Movie Review: something in his style: the right method ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Watching this DVD I thought, why did Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali refuse to emigrate to Canada or anywhere else (Monaco, Paris, London, Rome, Cairo, Beirut), starting his statements living there in luxury? Isn't it neurotic to stay in the USA and allow the US white establishment to ruin my own sources (financially and mentally)? In the heart of all considerations is Ali's refusal to be drafted into the Army. His favorite sentences: (1) "Why should I go to Vietnam killing people who never said NIGGER to me?" (2) "The USA is my enemy, not the Vietcong..." these sentences, sent from abroad, would have developed their power as well, would have been a more effective support of his "boxing for justice and liberty" with shaky methods. And secondly I thought, watching this DVD: "The Clash Of Civilizations", the present never ending feud between Christian establishment and Muslim neighborhoods - did this start in the 1960's, when Muhammad Ali and America's fiery civil-rights leader Malcolm X became great political heroes? Nowadays: Ain't there any ways to respect each other? Is the present society a better one as the scene in the years 1964 - 1974, which brought Muhammad Ali a very bitter life? The fresh occurrence of this screen-work made me think like this, and I am convinced, some other viewers will feel similar things. But: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were gunned down, Muhammad Ali still is a living hero you can grant some honors (summer 1996 in Atlanta, the Champ holding the Olympic torch); evident: something of his style has been the right method ...
Movie Review: something in his style: the right method ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Watching this DVD I thought, why did Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali refuse to emigrate to Canada or anywhere else (Monaco, Paris, London, Rome, Cairo, Beirut), starting his statements living there in luxury? Isn't it neurotic to stay in the USA and allow the US white establishment to ruin my own sources (financially and mentally)? In the heart of all considerations is Ali's refusal to be drafted into the Army. His favorite sentences: (1) "Why should I go to Vietnam killing people who never said NIGGER to me?" (2) "The USA is my enemy, not the Vietcong..." these sentences, sent from abroad, would have developed their power as well, would have been a more effective support of his "boxing for justice and liberty" with shaky methods. And secondly I thought, watching this DVD: "The Clash Of Civilizations", the present never ending feud between Christian establishment and Muslim neighborhoods - did this start in the 1960's, when Muhammad Ali and America's fiery civil-rights leader Malcolm X became great political heroes? Nowadays: Ain't there any ways to respect each other? Is the present society a better one as the scene in the years 1964 - 1974, which brought Muhammad Ali a very bitter life? The fresh occurrence of this screen-work made me think like this, and I am convinced, some other viewers will feel similar things. But: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were gunned down, Muhammad Ali still is a living hero you can grant some honors (summer 1996 in Atlanta, the Champ holding the Olympic torch); evident: something of his style has been the right method ...