Ali Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)December 21st, 2001
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With Ali, Michael Mann has submitted one of the best directorial efforts of the year, but, sadly, like his Heat and The Insider, this film is just way too long. From an initial screening, I found dozens of things that could have been removed to tighten things up. I don't know if it's self-indulgence, or possibly a love of his subject, but Mann didn't need to make Ali's running time approach two-and-a-half hours.
The film illustrates the life of Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali over just a 10-year period, from his first title fight in February 1964 against Sonny Liston to the "Rumble in the Jungle" in October 1974, where he regained the title against once-ferocious grill-pitchman George Foreman (the latter tussle became the basis for the 1996 Oscar-winning documentary When We Were Kings). We first see Ali (played by the beefed-up Will Smith, The Legend of Bagger Vance) as he trains for the Liston bout, completely focused and seemingly undistracted by everything happening both around him and around the world. It takes about 10 minutes for him to open his mouth, and when it does, it's in front of a throng of reporters at the pre-fight weigh-in. It's a splendid, audacious opening that shows both sides of the man known as "The Lip" - the showman and the guy who's all business.
At the Liston fight, Ali was four years removed from his gold medal at the Rome Olympics and a 7-to-1 underdog who wasn't supposed to make it out of the first round, despite possessing a Mike Tyson-like 19-0 record, including 14 knockouts (with eight of them in four rounds or less). Mann pretty much recreates the entire fight, which Ali wins Homer Simpson-style (tiring out Liston, and then pushing him over). Now the undisputed heavyweight champion, the world became Ali's playground. By this time, the Bowtie Brigade, led by Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles), already had their hooks into the fighter with plans to use him to further their religious movement. Ali's rollercoaster relationship with the bigwigs of Islam plays a major part in the film, just as it did in his life.
But there are quite a few important things from Ali's existence that get glossed over in the film. For a film made by a guy who is renowned for his attention to detail, Ali is surprisingly light on a lot of particulars, such as the revolving door of women in his life, his fight strategy and relationship with trainer Angelo Dundee (Ron Silver, The West Wing), as well as the legal fight stemming from his refusal to participate in the Viet Nam war (because, as the champ so eloquently stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong"). Even the boxing itself falls victim to Ali's storytelling, which gives the impression not much time passed between the first two epic battles with Smokin' Joe Frazier. There was, in fact, 13 fights (including the 1973 loss to Ken Norton) over what amounted to three-and-a-half years. And because the action ended in 1974, there's no "Thrilla in Manila."
Yeah, I know - I'm a hypocrite. I'm complaining about Ali being too long while whining about it leaving out important details. But wait until you see the things Mann insists on including here, like a detailed chunk of film depicting Malcolm X's assassination that is completely unnecessary, not to mention really fake-looking (the same thing could have been accomplished by simply showing a newspaper headline or a television news flash). Between that, the full-length music videos and the name-dropping ("Hey, there's Maya Angelou!"), you'll be fightin' mad by the finale, which is almost like taking a beating yourself.
As an accurate biopic, Ali might not be that great, but visually, it's pretty damn amazing. Mann shoots the fight scenes in color (a refreshing change in this post-Raging Bull world) and at thigh level, stopping occasionally to show the champ's amazing footwork. Non-fight scenes are filmed by Sleepy Hollow's Emmanuel Lubezki using a handheld camera and are brilliantly cobbled together by a crack team of editors (including The Insider's William Goldenberg). You may not recognize him, but that's Jon Voight (Pearl Harbor) playing Howard Cosell behind what will likely be an Oscar-nominated makeup job.
Acting-wise, Ali is pretty strong, but that's something we've come to expect from Mann's films. Smith, who I'd sooner sock myself than praise, does a good job (but it's not, as many would lead you to believe, one of the best performances of the year) and, at times, really looks like Ali. Voight's Cosell is brilliant, if not a little bit frightening, while Jeffrey Wright (Shaft) heads a large supporting cast (he plays photographer Howard Bingham) that includes Jamie Foxx (Any Given Sunday), Mykelti Williamson (Three Kings) and Giancarlo Esposito (Monkeybone).
2:28 - R for some language and brief violence
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