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ALI Review
Michael Mann’s ALI failed on a great many levels to impress me, to hold my attention or to involve me with any sense of consistency at all.
I’ll start with the chief problem I have with the movie. I don’t need to see Ali at the press conferences and in the ring. I’ve seen all that before. I found myself waiting for the fights to end, for the hype for the fights to end, because the only aspect of this film that engaged me were the tiny scenes, let me try and explain why.
You see, I was alive, young and incredibly impressionable when Ali was on TV and doing interviews and on Talk Shows in the Seventies. When I got older, I watched fight tapes and read histories all about Ali. I love to death WHEN WE WERE KINGS, in fact after watching this movie, I went home and watched it twice to wash the blandness out.
You can tell that Michael Mann studied Ali’s life in pictures and the amazing WHEN WE WERE KINGS Whole scenes are lifted straight out of it. He worked to capture this, so that it would hopefully resonate with the viewer as cementing and replacing Will Smith's Ali in your concious brain. Unfortunately the scenes aped from the reality of Ali’s life were the absolute worst scenes of the flick.
Why?
Quite frankly, because scenes that I’ve seen Ali live in reality left the stronger more honest feeling. You see Will Smith is trying hard to look like someone trying to act like he’s the greatest. Ali, well… Ali was the greatest. There was no doubt in Ali’s face, no hesitation, no fore-knowledge. His mouth just started, his will was indomitable. He was a fireball of passion and confidence. Ali could do a full 30 minute press conference that would just hold you in rapt attention. With Smith’s performance, it is done in cuts, takes and I can’t help but see the pieces pushed together with all the cracks exposed.
When playing Ali, if you are going to try and step into his life and play the most famous of Ali moments, then you have to do it without cutting away. The way Mann shoots Will’s performance would be like making a film about the life of Fred Astaire and shooting his dancing through a series or rapid edits and close-ups of feet and legs married with medium upper torso shots. You strip away the genius of the man by cutting away, segmenting the reality, and it is a subtle thing that simply adds up in the viewer's mind to say, "Will Smith is no Muhammad Ali."
NOW, having said that. The second we step outside those moments of ‘reality regurgitation’. As soon as the film decides to peek behind the veil of Ali’s camera life, we get the best of the film.
Watching Ali in his Harlem Hotel after his Sonny Liston 1 fight watching TV, when Malcolm X comes over. Ali’s watching a program about termites. The scene is great.
However, scenes like these are rare. We see Ali’s love of women, but we never truly get to see the charm he used on the world focused like a laser upon the woman he was trying to seduce at the time. Harnessing all that charisma, all that charm and that silver tongue of his to capture the eyes and love of the woman he desires. Because Ali didn’t write this dialogue for them, they don’t capture what we can imagine he would be like. No cameras or tape recorders captured these secret conversations, and the writers did not have the imagination to charm us as I can only imagine the real Ali could. A couple of times you get a glimmer of that charm in these scenes. However, it just isn’t consistent.
Now Will Smith’s vaunted Ali performance. At Smith's best we find amazing moments of passion when Ali is speaking out against the United States' desire to force him to kill poor Vietnamese that had never done him harm. Well, I’m afraid to a large degree we never are allowed to see a great Will Smith performance, because the peak emotional scenes are rendered completely useless by Michael Mann’s insistence to intercut musical numbers or even worse… He kills all audio from the scene, and amps up some music. The result is a vain attempt to force our emotions or to make us under-write scenes with our own sense of poignancy to the moment.
The absolute worst case of this is the Death of Malcolm X. Instead of us seeing and hearing the agony of the champ, it is drowned in music. What is terrible here is it robs us of Will’s performance. The sounds he made, all gone. We are never really allowed to get intimately real with Ali.
In addition, if the film ever comes close to showing Ali as a possible womanizer or highlighting his weakness for women or the hurt caused in those women by a shifting of Ali’s focus and charms… We get out of there. Oh no, can’t focus on this intimate moment, we have to run to a press conference… something safe, something that doesn’t diminish the vision of Ali.
As for Jon Voight’s highly acclaimed turn as Howard Cosell, well… I wasn’t impressed. Basically he’s doing Cosell’s easily doable distinctive voice. But otherwise, it is all make-up. Extremely good make-up, but about 80% of that performance is the make-up. Voight doesn’t transform, he was transformed by somebody else, and delivered what was an emotionally vapid turn of celebrity impersonation. Voight might very well be attempting to become the modern day Paul Muni, but it takes more than just a voice and some make up. It takes a role. As Cosell is written, he’s just the public Cosell with just the smallest of behind the scenes looks. No real spark though, it isn’t a great performance by any stretch of the imagination. HOWEVER, it is GREAT MAKE-UP!!!
The film is shot with a lot of desaturation of colors. Like everything is slightly faded. We don’t get the rich tones of a film like WHEN WE WERE KINGS. You don’t get that sense of vibrancy. Instead it is this bleaching process. Personally, it didn’t do it for me.
Is the film awful? No. It is just painfully mediocre or for a nicer word… it is average. Great Biography films dare to force the viewer to reimagine your thoughts regarding the person in question.
Films like GODS AND MONSTERS or AMADEUS. It is a darn shame that this film is as pedestrian as it was for me. Like I said, Ali was an anchor in my life as a young boy. I remember the day he lost his final fight, it was as if a family member died. For me, Ali was indestructible. A superman. Hell he whupped Superman. And to this boy, Ali was a God.
I met Ali and had the chance to share a few words with him. When I went to the World Premiere of GODZILLA, Ali and his wife attended as well. On the flight from New York to Atlanta (I believe it was) I sat across the aisle from THE GREATEST. I was flying with Glen Oliver of FilmForce and we were both in awe. This was Muhammad Ali. One of the Greatest personalities of all time. A man that stood up to the Vietnam War and the U.S. Government. A man that reinvented himself and became forever a symbol of greatness. When I shook his hand, I cried, because I’d seen him on TV, on Film and fighting Superman. I had action figures and coloring books of this man.
There are few times in a man’s life where you are in direct contact with someone that makes you feel insignificant yet makes you feel great. Meeting the real Ali was like that for me. BTW, he didn’t care for GODZILLA too much. He thought Godzilla could have been meaner.
See, Ali even has better taste in movies than me. He is the Greatest. It took me a second viewing to see that.
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Hope harrys wrong
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but who really cares? BTW - will smith is going to be the first black president in 20 years - watch and see.
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it's horribly written. learn to edit your stuff a little, no offense.
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regardless.
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The trailers for this gave me goosebumps on my goosebumps. Everyone is saying this is better than most films this year, but should've been & could've been WAY better. They'll still get my $8 though.
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I am by no means an ALI buff and coming from someone who is and Harry wanting to like it I'm afarid I will have to skip this one. It's not because Harry might have gone in with too much expectations(probably) but his technical comments. I have grown up with Will Smith. I bought his first album and subsequent ones and have seen most of his acting stuff. But if what harry is saying is true it's a damn shame. I consider Will one of the most versatile entertainers of my generation and they should have cut him loose on this role. I'm outta here!
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Don't make fun of Harry for crying.
He is a sensitive man. If more of us were like Harry, there would be no war. -
All grown men can cry at certain things, just some think it's not "manly" to do so. Harry just doesn't care what people think about him, he is the kind of person that just runs with his emotions. I cry at the end of The Elephant Man every time I see it, but I don't care. It is one of my favorite movies of all time because of the effect it had on me as a child and now as a 26 year old. Anyways I was never looking forward to Ali ever since I saw the trailer. Will Smith looks like Will Smith no matter how much I try to suspend my disbelief. They probabaly should have used a no name. Just my humble opinion.
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I know yo're a passionate guy, but holy burritos and bean sauce, is there ANYTHING that doesn't make you cry? Don't get me wrong, I'm an absolute believer that if you feel like crying, you should bawl your eyes out, but I've got to know what it is about you that makes you well up so often. Any theories?
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"I found myself waiting for the fights to end, for the hype for the fights to end, because the only aspect of this film that engaged me." "Quite frankly, because scenes that I
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I'm everything you punks would consider a real man. I do sometimes scare people, sometimes not meaning to, just walking down the street. I have had many chances, although I have matured a bit and I'm much more peaceful now, to prove myself in stupid brawls and pointless fights. All we ever proved was that we threatened each other and needed to use violence to met out what our words could not express. The most manly thing a man can do is to know his own emotions. Only fear keeps a man from crying, only fear, keeps emotions from being dealt with and allows one to be controlled by them. If you have a problem with what another "Man" does, feeling it to be un masculine, that is because you suffer from doubt about yourself. You have probably mastered a pretty good tough guy swagger by now, and I'm sorry to reveal you. Put the stone down and go back inside your glass house, and take a nap.
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I saw this movie a few nights ago at a previe screening and Harry hit the nail on the head with every point. I can't see why this movie is getting so much attention considering it's not that great of a production. It made Ali seem almost transparent. Hell, the friggin' flick was so long and dull that we walked out after the 1st 2 hours and didn't think twice about missing the end. I didn't recognize Jon Voight but it isn't difficult to do a Cosell impression. Snore. Will Smith put too much stock in this movie but all of the problems are Mann's fault, not Smith's. Oh yeah, Ali may have been a good fighter and A1 showman, but he was FAR, FAR, FAR from a genius. Then again, 'genius' seems to apply to anyone these days who is even a hair above mediocre.
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I thought Ali was a great movie. I think people are expecting this movie to just blow them away, much like the man himself. But guess what? Maybe Ali wasn't that large a character when not in the camera's eye. I sent Harry a positive review of Ali the other day -- needless to say he didn't post it. You would think he'd want to post it, seeing as how I seem to be one of the few early viewers out there who actually enjoyed it. Maybe other interests are causing Harry to sandbag this film? Don't believe this bullshit. Ali was pretty goddamn good.
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Dec 21, 2001 6:59:00 PM CST
Harry's review for Man on the Moon renders his Ali review co
by jungle-face-jake
Sorry, dude.
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I'm not a fan of Muhammad Ali, nor the sport of boxing or even Will Smith. I do like Michael Mann though, but that's not enough for me to go see this. Anyone know if it's true that he's using Lisa Gerrard AGAIN for this pic? I fear that since she has such a distinct voice, that her overuse in movie might make her cliche. (Sad, depressing scene comes up, insert Lisa humming or crooning sadly)
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Dec 21, 2001 7:59:49 PM CST
To quote the make-money-quick scam ad guy: "Make me cry!"
by fd resurrected
I don't remember what's-his-name, but I do remember his cover got blown when the police discovered the video outtakes of him directing the actresses to shill the make money quick product, crowing praises. "Make me cry!" is the favorite catch phrase of that slick scammaster as a bad director who don't know shit how to pull the perfect performance out of aspiring actresses' asses. Anyhow, it sounds like Michael Mann have faltered with Ali. He directed pretty good in Heat and undeniably excellent in The Insider. Like I told that idiot talkbacker who scolded me for not putting my faith in this film because it's MICHAEL MANN: "Not all great directors make good movies". Quentin Tarantino once said about the great directors making good movies in the first 20 years and bad movies in the last 20 years of their career/life. His theory is dead on. Orson Welles, Robert Altman, Alan J Pakula, George Lucas, too many to count. BTW, I *do* cry at the movies, but it's rare. The movies that actually made me cry are: Princess Mononoke, The Iron Giant, Life is Beautiful, Dancer in the Dark, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, Central Station, The Seven Samurai, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and a few others I can't remember. I should admit to crying when I saw Titanic (the last third) the first time. *Hangs his head in shame for being a James Cameron pussy...* Remember, Harry cried watching Bruce Willis sacrifice his life to save Ben Affleck before nuking asteriod in Armageddon!
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Ali wrote (spoke?) the shortest poem in the English Language and damn if it ain't the most direct poignant two words ever strung together. Will Mann's usual excesses creep in (montages drenched in loud music, overlength, wobbly subplots, a tendency to go over the top)? Probably but I imagine some cool stuff will be there too. I think the saddest part is that everything cool Smith says is just stuff Ali said on the news. If they are just gonna ape it, do they need the movie at all? Probably not. Nothing is gonna be more compelling then Kings. But I'll check it out. Probably better then most stuff out there. Certainly it will rule over Vanilla (yuck) Sky.
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Pretty decent review Harry, but please run your text through spell check and read it out loud before you post. You spent to much time and emotion to write your review only to have it nullified by bad grammer.
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Agreed, this was not Harry's finest hour, but I think his best stuff happens when he's trying to convey enthusiasm. When he hates something, sometimes he goes overboard, but it's usually worthwhile going along for the ride. When he loves a film, or has some emotional connection to it, the reviews are a joy to read. It's clear Harry didn't feel too much one way or the other for Ali, and so the writing was uninspired. With Harry, blah films tend to lead to blah reviews.
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The pics that Harry mentioned, AMADEUS and GODS AND MONSTERS work because they AREN'T biopics. They are highly fictionalized dramatizations, and therefore have a story in mind to tell, not some kind of reverential summation of a life. Biopics that ignore this usually do fall into the tedious category (CHAPLIN, GHANDHI, NIXON...). There's a good clue, if the title is simply the name of the person, it's going to drag. ALI would fall into this category....
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during the spider-man trailer prior to LOTR. The summer of '02 belongs to Spider-Man.
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There's one, essential flaw that undermines the brilliance in Ali... The editing. We've heard already that Mann has a longer cut ready for DVD, which to me means essentially that this is a shortened version to maximize box office. Well, if that's the truth, it's a stupid decision because in its current, truncuated form already at 2 hr 45 mins the film is lacking. What's there as individual elements is amazing. I think Smith deserves the oscar - for those moments of quietude and grace when Ali is alone... For not projecting the camp, roustabout Ali 24 - 7... He's played him as a conscious, proud, stubborn, difficult - fiercely intelligent man. And when you look at out what's offered to mainstream America as a depiction of a black man, it flies in the face of every stupid stereotype available. The film never even attempts to uncover some mystery about Ali; it's more like it puts you in the time and shows you one brilliant man's reaction to it... What Harry should be crying for is a longer cut, a more coherent edit with more context. How many young, white cornbread boys from Minnesota are going to see this movie and understand who Sam Cooke or Maya Angelou were? They won't, and the history lesson will be lost on them. It's obvious Mann's trying something impressionistic, but I think what he and Smith have in their hands is potent ammo and sorely needed in our time... A portrayal of a black man, human, slightly wounded and flawed, who still towers above everything around him. And the other real problem Ali faces is that Mann is about the only mainstream director who makes movies for adults, and no one seems to care for those anymore. In terms of tone and attitude this a movie for people who see the world past adolescence. Good luck with this crowd...
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Dec 21, 2001 10:59:13 PM CST
I think Brendan Frasier's sensitive character in "Bedazzled"
by chiknfriedelfsac
::Dabs a tear at the beauty of a grown man being unashamed of his emotions:: Talk of Armageddon reminds me of a "white trash" girl I used to work with who commented on the movie, "I cried several times, it rocked." Yes, I cried at the ending of Armageddon too. When Sling Blade says, "I'd like to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man in the world (or some such tripe)," I cried...with laughter. One of the funniest movie moments EVER.
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Is "Redbox" code for Thom Yorke?
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But you went home and watched When We Were Kings TWICE? Back to back? Just think-- you could have watched it once, and then spent an hour and a half studying English. Or, better yet, down at the gym!
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I don't think he was the right man for the job. I know that I haven't seen the film yet and that I should hold my opinions until after... but he just rubbed me the wrong way when I saw the trailer. Hmmmm... biopics,... who else would be compatible for a biographical motion picture based on a well known celebrity? Chris Rock would be played by Chris Tucker, Eddie Murphey would be played by Chris Rock and that stoner guy from the Dell Computers commercial would be played by the stoner guy from the Chef Boyardee commercial. Hell... put a red wig and beard on Ethan Suplee and we have a dead ringer for Harry Knowles!
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Does it have the fight where Ali's glove *split* against blighty's own Henry Cooper? Thought not;)
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Dec 22, 2001 5:37:18 AM CST
Best Howard Cosell impression? Asian drag racer from Better Off
by hung-wei lo
I've said it once and I'll say it again. Hands down the best impersonation ever. Not to mention a kickass movie.
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Harry your reviews suck...
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Harry your reviews suck...
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What the fuck do some of you bother coming here for?Why not stick with your reviews in USA today or The Gaurdian?
Despite Harry's literary failings you got the point of the review right? RIGHT?
What a bunch of pedantic wankers!
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in no particular order:
The Iron Giant, Amadeus, The Little Princess, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Joy Luck Club, Crouching Tiger...., Eat, Drink, Man, Woman; Queen Margot, The Crow, The Last Emperor. And I do cry in The English Patient, right along with Ralph Fienes' character (as he's carrying Katherine into/out of the cave...). AND goddammit, my eyes were willing up with tears during that Spider-Man trailer. I agree - besides LoTR, that movie is what I have been waiting for! -
... was the worst job i have EVER seen in a big-budget movie. First of all, it's frighteningly rubber and fake looking. secondly, he looks absolutely NOTHING like Cosell.
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"I found myself waiting for the fights to end, for the hype for the fights to end, because the only aspect of this film that engaged me were the tiny scenes, let me try and explain why." You over-corrected on this one, Harry, replacing a sentence fragment with a run-on sentence. "He worked to capture this, so that it would hopefully resonate with the viewer as cementing and replacing Will Smith's Ali in your concious brain." What did he want to replace Will Smith with? "Harnessing all that charisma, all that charm and that silver tongue of his to capture the eyes and love of the woman he desires." You get credit for trying to fix this one, Harry. Unfortunately, it's still a fragment. Merely adding words doesn't change a fragment into a sentence. Correct syntax and understanding how a sentence parses do. All the other citations from Sentence Fragment Heaven are still fragments. Keep trying, Harry. It's the critic's obligation to write as well as he would want a filmmaker to film. Sorry to nitpick, Harry, but I like the site and I want to see it improve, to the benefit of your readers. If you disagree, so be it. Suit yourself.
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um...harry, when we were kings was a documentary, not a movie. ali sounds entertaining. perhaps it doesn't capture the real Ali, but when do movies actually do this? that's the whole point of documentaries. that's why films like when we were kings and hoop dreams are so great...they're not hollywood scripted movies with a love interest thrown in...documentaries are real.
ali interests me very much, but i think a lot of why we won't see much of the real ali is because the man is STILL ALIVE. and contrary to what people believe, he is 100% coherent. -
Uh, Chris? Isn't a documentary considered a movie? If it's full length, and can be projected onto a screen, it's a movie.
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you must be a nascar fan, because all your brain can do is turn left.
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I hate you Harry. You pull this type of nonsense on your inevitable Scooby Doo review and we're going to have some words.
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I can't believe you. As if you have any form of a right to sit at your keyboard and bash the film. I'll begin by saying that your ideas are very idiotic, simply because the GREAT ONE himself has spoken out about the film. He says that he is proud of it. He is PROUD that the film shows has actions beyond what the public has scene. You're safe to hide behind a screen a bash and demolish a film. I find myself wondering if you even have seen it. Mann sure did a hell of alot better than your ass could. Why? The word talent comes to my mind. There are reasons behind everything. You sit there and even bitch about the shots he chose. What the hell is that? There isn't enough emmotion? How the hell can say that? Were you there? Do have tapes to go back and look at? I doubt it. There wasn't enough emmotion? Please! Why don't you have an outlook before you be a credic
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Dec 24, 2001 1:58:43 AM CST
love that new cartoon image, Harry! doesn't look as much lik
by a goonie
that is all.
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I've been reading this site for a couple months now and here's something I have noticed. Anytime there's a post saying how great a certain special effect in a scene is (like the make-up in Ali for example), somebody else will post another message saying, "that was terrible, totally fake-looking and just not believable". I think that's funny. Do these effects bashers just think it's cool and that people will think their really smart because they can tell what's fake? If you ask me, I think it just proves they have no imagination.
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I'm disturbed by all the early mixed reviews on "Ali" (not just from Harry). I thought it was an absolute triumph. I walked out of an advance press screening in awe, both of the film and of Will Smith's stunning performance. I don't get it. Some seem disappointed that we don't learn everything there is to know about The Champ, from birth to current day, in generic biopic fashion. But, I for one, totally appreciate that we DON'T learn EVERYTHING there is to know about him. Why take away that little bit of mystery that surrounds him? Mann has fashioned a stylish and completely absorbing (sorry Harry & fellow bashers) look at the events that made Ali the towering, unforgettable figure in American culture that he is. And guess what? To you folks who've been complaining about the film's recreation of press conferences and fights that "we've all seen before"...Plenty of us were not alive and HAVEN'T seen them before. To lots of young audiences, this will be the first exposure to that eventful decade in Ali's life and career. For many, for myself even, it gives a fuller appreciation of why, perhaps, the entire world is a better place for having known the man. So, my advice, you weary talkback readers : Don't let a couple of bitchy insignificant 'critics' talk you out of seeing one of the year's finest films. I know it doesn't have a wizard in it, Harry, but I know an incredible tribute when I see it. It's about time that all us critics with an audience stop bashing films for what they "could've been... according to me", and giving hints to professional filmmakers about how to make their movies better...for you. Give it a shot, folks.
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The greatest sports entertainer of them all will just have movies which are "tv released only" quality made about him. One day hopefully someone will come along and give the man justice. Raging Bull is probably the problem because Scorcese made THE ultimate boxing film, whose fight scenes are still to be beaten to this day. Someone out there please make a flick out of THE GREATEST's life and do it justice, he was more entertaining than most of the entertainers out there today, in fact he would put them to shame. Harry great review by the way and Happy Christmas to all the trolls and normal folk who frequent these boards. ** Mercier hope you liked my "Ewoks : Caravan of Courage" video, I know its your favourite flick of all time. Happy Christmas.
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Harry, I'm sure you're right but this movie isn't made for the boomers who lived through it but Gen X&Y- the vast majority of ticket buyers like my son, who I rented When We Were Kings for, and who I'm taking to see Ali tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all!
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I like the big lovable lug, and I hope he nor the other admins ban me for this, but I'd just like to say that I find the irony of Ali's life to be wonderfully delicious. One minute the champion of the world, the next he can't even tie his own shoelaces. It's so goddamn ironic, that Alanis Morrissette should write a song about it.
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Just got back from seeing "Ali"... and I can't believe how bland it was. For a movie about one of the most charismatic personalities in history, its lack of emotion and intensity was absolutely pathetic.
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For so many people to hate reading Harry's reviews, an awful lot of you read it! Lead on Father Geek, your ranting does not belong to the week of heart.
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Doesn't everybody like my sentance wording and the use of the wrong week. Talkbacking is not with out a sense of irony.
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I just watched the movie I cannot help but to agree with Harry. However there is something that he overlooked....
Harry the music playing at the time Malcom X got shot was Sam Cooke's "A Change Gonna Come" and I think it was a nod to Spike Lee. That was the same music he used in X when Malcom got shot. Once upon a time I heard that Spike Lee was vying to be the director on this picture. I can't help but think that he would have done a better job. At the worst it would have been more introspective that what I got. Oh well... I am glad I saw it before 6PM. -
I was really looking forward to this movie being a huge Michael Mann fan and sports fan. On both levels I was letdown. Mann's film is boring outside the ring and doesn't do justice to Ali's life. It plays like a generic tv movie you'd see on CBS on a Sunday night. This was Mann's worst film by far, pity because I was hoping it'd be his greatest.
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Dec 26, 2001 4:09:40 AM CST
It's Seems As If Everyone Is Bashing The Film When Most Here
by the founder
It's sad really how people can sit here, and bash a film when they haven't even seen it. Everyone jumps on the "I Hate Will Smith" bandwagon, when he's certainly a lot better then a lot of the current over paid crop of actors in Hollywood that a lot of you praise. People can say what they want about Will, but I met him about 2 years ago, and the man is probably one of the coolest entertainers you're ever likly to meet, and I don't see where this big ego or self esteem issues as some of you have said comes from, because we were at a resturaunt, and he nice to everyone that I can saw approach him. Most of you here just sit behind your little screens and bash any big entertainer, now granted some deserve it, but Will sure as hell isn't one of them. Well I saw Ali, and all the performances were good, and Will was totally convincing as Ali, but I have to agree with Harry on the review, because the movie lacked passion, or maybe that extra something to really grab you, but it ain't will's fault, and nor is it ant of the actors fault, the problem is with the script, and the score at times was crappy. Is it worth seeing? That depends what you want out of the film. If you're a huge Ali fan, then you'll more then likly be dissappointed, but other then that the film is entertaining at the least, but it's a pretty mediocre life storu of Ali.
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This movie was slow and about as dull as watching a PBS documentery about molasses falling off a tree. A man fell a sleep in the theater while everyone else was squriming in their seats. then when it ended people balted out the door. Will Smith was awesome awesome so was Jamie Fox but the movie lacked any sort of drama what so ever and it seemed waaaaay too long. 4 creditted screen writers shouldve been a clue that this movie sucked. It had some good oneliners that were funny and truthful! And all these actors trying to impersonate Malcolm X, MLKJr, Don King seemed so so and two dimensional. Peter Travers must be crazy to rank it number 2 in his ten list, and even though Roger Ebert gave HP 4 stars and LOTR 3 never has a review written by this man been so accurate! Grade C+ and thats being too nice!
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All in all, the movie was decent, at best. I think Smith did an ok job of portraying Ali, but I do believe most of the problems lie in the directorial work. Choppy scenes of the fight, and very large, unexplained jumps between scenes. In the course of three consecutive scenes, Ali goes from getting ready to go to Africa with Malcom, to not going to Africa with Malcom...to in Africa, going into a hotel as Malcom comes out. To much was skipped, and left unexplained. To much left out.
And another thing...after watching the movie and rewatching the trailers...half of the things in the trailers AREN'T in the movie, at least not that I saw. The scene with Ali telling the kid he'd hit his hands five times before the count of three is a good example of this...I never once noticed it in the movie. I wasn't watching for it, and I may have missed it...but I personally didn't see it. -
But only if they're Cancers or Pisces(es). Aside from that it's a bit forced. This film sucked more than it had to- sorry. Although I love the R. Kelly song. That man is a national treasure.
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I love movies. Almost every movie I see I find something about it that I like. Even the stupidest movies I can pass off as just mindless entertainment. Ali, however, was one of the biggest cinematic letdowns of my life. I thought this movie was boring and very poorly told. There have been two movies I've ever walked out of in my life. One was Joel Schumacher's awful Batman & Robin, and the second is Michael Mann's Ali. All the hype aside folks...this movie sucks.
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then went home and watched a rerun of "Mama's Family"...Entirely forgettable film....Although that Mama's Family episode has stuck wih me for days....Yep....
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Jan 10, 2002 10:05:01 PM CST
None of this has persuaded me to break my policy of never again
by bigw
And, to be honest, at one point I thought I would be going to this one.
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1/ Muhammed Ali may indeed have been one of the most charismatic people in history (if one considers the world of sport to be 'real') But then Hitler was damn charismatic too. Does the charming 'dying to to loved' Will Smith or Michael Mann dwell for any length on the occasional hatemongering vitriol that Mr Clay occasionally spewed? I hear No. Ali has become a 'national treasure (like R Kelly, Jesus, that better have been a joke!) because he was a successful loudmouth in a world full of dumpy gonadless office jockeys and he (Boo Hoo) became handicapped by the most ironic disease ever, robbing him of his self expression.
2/ Has anybody, I repear ANYBODY managed to point out the ludicrousness of releasing a film about this controversial man at the moment, when anybody even vaguely affiliated with neo-Islamic groups in the US is the subject of suspicion? The (disgusting fascist)way people are using the word TRAITOR could VERY easily be applied to Ali's pronouncements, had they been made on the news yesterday. The truth is that if Ali wasn't incapacitated, he'd probably be in an interment camp by now.
3/ Jon Voight and hideous rubber make-up are become close friends, look at Pearl Harbor (sadly I did). FDRs chin gas a seam on it so huge it looks like Mr Wheels is smiling out of a second mouth, or 'Jay Leno just escaped Jack the Ripper!'
4/ R-Kelly, Oh God, the pain..
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I found Ali to be just as good, if not better, than Mann's last two films. At 3 hours it is a long film, but I was never bored. When I think of the rather tame biographical films that have received acclaim (Gandhi, Amedeus, or the recent Beautiful Mind) I'm baffled at how a bold film like Ali gets ignored. Perhaps it's the subject matter, something that could easily explain the similar disinterest that befell Malcolm X. Everybody likes Gandhi, not everybody (as proved by some of the comments on this talkbalk) likes Ali.
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... if it's just me who's noticed that Harry has done and seen EVERYTHING? If it's ALI he's been a fan of ali since he was a fetus... if it's STAR WARS he knows Boba Fett personally... if it's INDEPENDENCE DAY he's flown an alien mothership single handed... it gets my goat, honestly... is there ANYTHING he doesn't know EVERYTHING about?
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Feb 28, 2002 8:43:19 AM CST
Opinon on Ali, and why Harrys new cartoon is unoriginal
by jak flash 2000
As horrid as it might seem, Ali was a dissapointing film and as Harry rightly said, it was just a case of waiting for the fihts to end. Personally I thought the fights in "Raging Bull" were more powerfull. Also I feel we don't capture enough of Ali's personal side for this to be a good movie. As for Harrys new cartoon, its a rip-off of a British comic called "Sonic the Comic" with the strip in question being called "Decap Attack". Unless its the same artist then it is a rip-off. Read my reviews at www.thakksy.co.uk A goodday to all and to all a good day.
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I saw Ali the other night and thought it was shit. So boring, so flat, so lifeless. I was worried for a second that I only liked movies with wizards, elves and blue furry monsters. I feel vindicated.
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...harry wrote in his best/worst of 98 list that he was wrong with godzilla in his review....and however... the film is released in germany NOOOOWW..
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i also hated the movie. there was no plot developement, no character development. it left people like me who didn't live thru Ali's era playing a guessing game. the film never went into detail about anything. i wanted to come out of the theatre knowing something about the man from my own home town of Louisville, but I was just left bored. really bored. and very dissappointed. it was like mann was trying too hard to make this film "deeper" than his others. anyway, i still think Smith and Voight did an excellent job. It's not easy to portray someone like Ali and I believe Will did the best he could. and you're right, the make-up was great!
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The archive footage of ali was all anybody needed to know about the man.All this film was the fresh princes big burst at a oscar.
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