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Quint takes a jab at ALI then KO's with a killer upper cut!
Ahoy there, squirts. 'Tis I, the pleasing to the eye yet repugnant to the nose crusty ol' seaman, Quint, here to share my opinions and thoughts on Michael Mann's newest drama, ALI. I've never been really big into sports, but the one sport that has always fascinated me was boxing. I don't know why. I haven't kept up with it or anything, but if I see a match as I'm flipping channels, I usually watch it.
For me, when you look up boxing in the Seaman dictionary there should be a picture of Muhammed Ali. I've always loved the show that Muhammed Ali put on whenever there was a camera in the room. The insults, the put downs, the challenges, the rhymes and easily remembered phrases... all are beautifully entertaining. I have great respect for someone who can entertain as consistently as Mr. Ali. What's great about Ali as a character is not only does he throw out those insults and self-gratifying remarks, but he can follow them shits up. The way he used both his mind and his muscle in the ring was spectacular to behold. The way he'd freak his opponent out or piss them off to such an exteme degree where they start making mistakes... The man was a God in the ring.
This review is a little hard to write. Mann's film did do justice to Muhammed Ali and is riddled with amazing performances, the best from people you wouldn't expect them from, like Will Smith and Jamie Foxx. Unfortunately, as a film, it just never finds its pacing or its focus. The first 30 minutes, while performed and shot terrifically, are just sort of there. Mann failed to hook me in at the beginning and as a result I didn't really connect with anything or anyone. Matter of fact, the film didn't become interesting for me until the whole draft dodger issue came up about half way in. Story, schmory, I can hear you say. What about the fights?!?
In Mann's attempts to keep Ali's fights as true to history as he could... well, the boxing scenes took a big hit. I respect Mann's attempts, but as an audience member I have to question if it was worth losing the momentum of the film by keeping the fights true to life. Of course I'd probably be bitching about Mann not staying true to life if he had gone that route instead, so he was pretty much fucked either way. After having seen the film, though, I have to say I would have preferred the matches to be a bit more involving and quickly paced. As they are... well, we've seen them before and since this is a boxing film and has to contend with the likes of Raging Bull and Rocky I would have liked the fights to be a bit more theatrical and heart-pumping.
Will Smith with muscle threw me for a loop, I must say. How skinny little Fresh Prince morphed into thick muscular Ali is beyond me, but I'm glad he got cast. We've seen Will Smith's chemistry on film before, but he's never really become a different person. It's always Will Smith playing that army guy blowing up aliens or Will Smith as that agent guy blowing up aliens or Will Smith playing that mysterious caddy helping Matt Damon out. For those who thought his performance in Six Degrees of Separation was a fluke... You were wrong. Smith captures Ali's charisma, his attitude and his might with startling ease. Even though the movie falters a bit, Smith's performance stays steady as a rock.
Jamie Foxx turns in a great performance as one of Ali's main core of trainers/promoters/friends. Foxx plays Bundini Brown, a balding Black Jew who is always quick with his tongue. Even though you could classify Foxx's character as the comedic relief, it would be a shame to do so. Foxx makes Brown a real human being, not just a caricature for laughs. You see him at the top of his game and you see him lying face down in the gutter. Though he falls back on some of his comedic skills, it would be unfair for Foxx not to get credit for his skill in creating a living, breathing sympathetic being.
Jon Voight... Is he in this movie? Really? Who was he? Cosell?!? The hell you say! That was not Jon Voight as Cosell! Who was it, you ask? Well... It could have... Maybe it was Fr... Howard Cosell... is he still around? Could it have been him playing himself? I guess not... Well, if you say it was Jon Voight...
I wish Ali had been as good as I was hoping it would be. I wish I didn't have to feel guilty about writing a lukewarm review, trying not to put down the great work the actors put into the film. Maybe if I hadn't see When We Were Kings or that HBO documentary on the Ali/Frazier fight and what it meant to the world, I would've like the film a lot more. I guess in the end seeing the real thing from footage taken as it was happening makes the difference in my interest as a viewer. If only Mann had been able to hook me from the beginning...
Sorry, but this is one of those films that should have been great, but fell short. I've found myself looking back trying to blame other things for the film's failure in my eyes. It must have been my fault, right? It couldn't have been Mann's fault, right? I saw Ali after Lord of the Rings, maybe my love for the Fellowship blinded me to the genius filmmaking I missed. I might have believed that if it wasn't for all my friends who attending the same screening that I did and have similar tastes to mine telling me they thought it fell short as well. So, was I blinded or did I have 20/20 vision and am just calling it like I saw it? I know this is how I feel about the movie. Will you feel different? I hope so. I hope you find what I missed in this film.
I have to get going, squirties, but I'll be back very soon with some really cool treasures culled from hundreds of fathoms below the rolling bosom of the ocean. I've got some reviews, interviews and even an awesome set report to remove from my nets and present before your eyes, mates. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
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Praise God for Michael Mann and his realism. I saw this film at a press screening in atlanta not too long ago and I was struck by how much I loved the more realistic approach to the fights. Rocky is a work of fiction, and Raging Bull, though "based" on the life of Jake LaMotta, is also a pretty good work of fiction (lets all admit that, so we can move on). I thought Mann took the right approach to the fights. They involved me more emotionally because of this.... everytime I see Rocky or Bull, I always find myself wondering "Jesus, they should be dead by now with all the pounding" and being a former gold gloves boxer, I have often wondered why Apollo Creed and Rocky and Clubber Lang and Drago and Tommy Gunn never bothered to learned proper boxing defense....oh well.
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Ali is going to be great. Maybe the pacing of the film isn't what quint would like it to be, but its' very hard to twist a man's life into the 3 Act structure of a movie.
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Dec 21, 2001 11:13:40 AM CST
I saw it 2 days ago @ a preview and left after the 1st 2 hours (
by fredman73
Ok, I'll admit it. Will Smith is a good actor. The performances in this film are damn good. Jon Voight must have been Cosell. I didn't see him otherwise, although he gets near-to-top billing. Levar "Geordi LaForge" Burton is in this, too, but I don't recall seeing him. WTF? Anyway, the movie was slow-paced NON STOP and 1/2 the time you didn't know what year it was. My honey & I left after the 1st two hours because it was so boring. That's the director's fault. The actors were very, very good. Will Smith can sure act. Maybe if I had slept better the night before I would've stuck it out to see the end. Oh well. By the way, the Men in Black 2 trailer played before the movie. Looks funny.
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Ok, I haven't seen this yet so I don't know what its like, but surely if you sat through the first two hours you'd see through the last few minutes. I have only ever walked out of one film in my entire life, and that was an extreme situation. i.e. the movie was so bad i was feeling physically nautious.
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they should play the Frsh Prince of Bel Air theme music. Also, if I was Mann I would have cast all Fresh Prince regulars with roles, with Jeffrey playing the Jaime Foxx role. Does DJ Jazzy Jeff play George Foreman? He better.
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Sorry, Quint, a movie can't be "riddled with amazing performances." Riddled means impaired or full of holes or weaknesses. Maybe all the amazing performances were impairments in your eyes. I dunno. Suit yourself.
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When I grow up, I'm going to Reebok University!
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...is great in SHAFT'S BIG SCORE. I'll stay home and watch that DVD, $9.99 at The Wiz, instead of forking over $10 to see ALI in N.Y.C. with a bunch of ringing cell phones, screaming babies, babbling kids, and talk-back-to-the-screen troglodytes in a theatre that shows out of focus movies because they don't believe in hiring union projectionists. Some geeks still talk about the "moviegoing experience," but I'm afraid that doesn't exist anymore. What good is a big screen if these knuckle-draggers can't properly frame an image?
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I find it interesting that you didn't like the fight scenes. The only other review I read (over at ESPN online, page 2, by The Sports Guy), said the fight scenes were one of the best things about the movie. I'm looking forward to it.
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Could it possibly be more boring than LOTR??!! Oh man, say it ain't so! Damn, this is disappointing. Happy Holidays everyone! Peace.
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this movie when you can watch the real ALI in "when we were kings"
if you've seen that documentary,
you will definately appreciate ALI way more then if saw this overhyped movie (and really see how witty the real ALI was and still is). I am not even remotely interested in this WILL-li movie. as to the fight scene being realistic? just go and watch ESPN2 or classic to see the real fights! Will might have really "capture" the spirit of ALI but he won't ever be the real thing, it's still acting..save your money and go watch "when we were kings"
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