Ali
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.65 You Save: $10.34 (69%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Ali
Movie Review: Ali's career was unique and controversial
Summary: 4 Stars
Starring Will Smith as Mohammad Ali, this film tries to do a lot. It especially answers the question as to why Ali has become such a famous American personality. Ali was unique in challenging some strong preconceived notions of what was appropriate for a world champion. And his relationship with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam made him extremely controversial. He was a braggart, full of ego and not a very likeable person. But, after all, he was a boxer. And this is all part of the game.There are a lot of fighting sequences in the film. They're shot from a wide variety of angles, including close-ups of gloves or shoulders or feet. It gives the impression of being right there in the ring and part of the action and I found myself wincing at the blows. I couldn't always tell who was hitting who however, and perhaps that was the director's intent. These were over-long in spite of the realism.
I enjoyed the parts or the film which explained Ali's conversion to Islam. And I was glad the film didn't pull any punches about the politics of how he was banned and then re-instated into the religion. Will Smith did a competent job as Ali, but it was rare when his face could register a significant range of emotion. More successful was Jamie Foxx, cast as one of Ali's trainers. He was the center of every scene he was in. Jon Voight played the late Howard Cosell and his scenes with Ali were excellent. The three women in Ali's life, played by Nona Gay, Jada Pinkett Smith and Michel Michele all managed to put their own personalities into small roles that could have easily been stereotyped.
The Mohamed Ali depicted in this film is somewhat of a hero. I can't say personally whether or not this is true. But the film is enjoyable to watch and moved quickly through its 2 hours and 38 minutes. It did need smoother transitions between episodes however. And I would have liked to know more about Ali's Islamic faith. Also, there was certain sameness to all of Ali's opponents. Perhaps the fact that all these questions surfaced in my own mind about Ali and his career is one of the strengths of the film. It left me yearning to know more. I give this film a mild recommendation as an introduction to the world of Mohammed Ali.
Movie Review: Should be a five-stars movie, but it's not
Summary: 4 Stars
Muhammad Ali is surely one great character and his life undoubtedly renders a great movie script. When I found out "Ali" was going to be made, I was eager to see it from the first moment. After watching it yesterday, I was a little disappointed.First of all, "Ali" covers only ten years of Muhammad's life. Sure, those were the "best" ten years in Ali's life, when he was at the top of his boxing career, when he converted to muslim religion, when he was a friend of Malcolm X's. But certainly, Ali's life is much more than that. Even if the movie is longer than 150 minutes, I was, at the end, feeling that there was something missing (and there really was). Another low point of the movie is Michael Mann's direction. After "Heat" and "The insider" (two movies I really enjoyed), he changed his style, and Ali's was a blend of Steven Soderbergh and Oliver Stone. Maybe Mann wanted his movie to be like a documentary, but that was not the point in "Ali" (there is already a tremendous documentary about Ali, called "When we were kings").
Now, the good parts: the producers worked hard and found actors that really resemble the fighters, specially George Foreman. Will Smith does not resemble Ali, but Smith does a competent job as the protagonist. Aside from his good acting, his leg and feet movements are impressibly close to what Ali did in the ring. I also have to mention Mario van Peebles as Malcolm X, Mykelti Williamson as Don King (funny) and John Voight as sports-anchor Howard Cosell. But the main award should go to Jamie Foxx as Ali's drug-addicted, priest-like jew companion Bundini Brown. Great performance.
Anyway, Ali was not what I expected. But it's an interesting movie about one of the greatest boxers, personalities and characters of the XX century.
Grade 8.0/10
Movie Review: Too Many Caricatures, but Overall a Fine Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Though few people in the cast even remotely resemble the people they portray--one would think that Wil Smith, in particular, is just too homely to play the baby-faced Ali, well known for comments about his looks and those of others--Michael Mann's take on the legendary fighter's life merits viewing for many reasons, not the least of which is its determination to focus on Ali as a man rather than a black man. Sure, racism, civil rights, the influence of Islam, and other issues, perhaps, common in films about the experiences of African Americans turn up, but they never overshadow the focus on Ali as a human being whose combination of bravado and personal ethics made him either a role model or a pariah to so many people in the 1960s and 1970s. Surprisingly, the usually lightweight Smith delivers a complex and generally satisfying performance as Ali, showing the man's inner strength with a quiet determination, even if in his more boisterous moments Smith borders on caricature. (The major weakness of the film is that too many characters come across as caricatures, Jon Voight's muppet-like Howard Cosell being the worst offender.) The rest of the cast, including Jamie Foxx, Ron Silver, Joe Morton, Mykelti Williams and other familiar faces, deliver the goods, though Nona Gaye, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Michael Michelle shine in particular as the women in Ali's life. And while its fight scenes never equal those of either "Rocky" or "Raging Bull," the visceral moments of the film still carry great weight, in part because of the effective score and in part because Mann captures reasonably well the look and feel of the period without any "Miami Vice" gloss.Movie Review: STING LIKE A BEE
Summary: 4 Stars
On its face it is hard to see how a cinematic treatment of the life of Muhammad Ali (played here by Will Smith), the great prizefighter, could adequately portray the life he actually led. But that is indeed the case here. For those who grew up with him in mid-20th century America it is a nostalgic look back. For those too young to have known his life story this is a good primer of why many considered him one of the greatest athletics of all time and one why, friend or foe, considered him one hell of a man.
I am not now nor was I then a fight fan. The part of Ali's career that interests me is his fight against black oppression, as he saw it. That in his youth he took a black separatist course joining the Nation of Islam in reaction to the rampart racism in America and American sports is understandable if not strategically the way forward for black liberation. The scenes with Malcolm X, who acted as something of a mentor, are among the best in the film.
Ali was a man not only with a sports mission but a political mission. That became quite apparent when he, despite damage to his career and to his financial interests, refused to be inducted into the military during the Vietnam War period. His reasoning was simple-he had no quarrel with the Vietnamese. Many lesser figures, who now head the American government, were not nearly so forthright and skipped around the decisive political and moral event of the baby boomer generation. Hats off to Ali. Hats off to a great liberation fighter, who stood up when it counted.
Movie Review: Great film about a legend
Summary: 4 Stars
Not being a boxing fan, but having had watched When we were Kings, I had a rough idea of who Ali was and what he had achieved during his career. I heard about Will Smith's role in Ali so decided to watch this as well.You have to give credit to Will Smith for the accent,and the swaggering, overconfident 'Ali-ness' that he carried off so well. What interested me the most about this movie was Ali's contact with the black muslims and particularly Malcolm X. It was interesting to watch these two giants of the Civil Rights era come together in a time when the struggle for minority rights was the fiercest.
Ali's struggles after he had lost his right to box made me realize the power that Government has over the people within it's territory, but it also shows how hope can overcome what appear to be insurmountable obstacles. This was the saddest part of the film, and I think it made for good drama.
Despite Ali's magnificence in the boxing ring, he was a flawed man. His promiscuity makes a mockery of his religion and his weak excuses made me realize just how limited certain men are in carrying over the discipline from public life into the private.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in the life of Muhammad Ali.