Movie Reviews

I'm convinced that the only reason Michael Mann decided to make Ali was to showcase some really great fight scenes. I will admit that the two extended boxing matches in the film (Ali first acquiring the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" against George Foreman) are pretty amazing. But aside from that, I know for a fact that there are some excellent, critically-acclaimed documentaries out there about Muhammad Ali (though I'll also say that I haven't seen any of them yet), so I wonder why else this movie would've been made.

But on its own terms, Ali is, overall, a pretty decent film. Muhammad Ali (played adequately by Will Smith) is certainly an interesting character, and Mann and Smith do a good job of conveying the uniqueness of the character. My biggest complaint about the film, though, is that a number of interesting historical events are touched upon, but none of them are explored in any depth. For instance, I would've liked to have known a lot more about Ali's involvement with Malcolm X, or about his refusal to be inducted into the army during the Vietnam War.

Getting back to the fight scenes: as something of a film-nerd, I was really amazed at Mann's camerawork in this film. Actually, I've been pretty impressed with the camerawork in most of the films I've seen (Mann also directed The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, and The Insider, among others). He has this amazing ability to fill up the entire width of a 2.35:1 widescreen frame with careful composures even when the most frantic of actions are occuring onscreen.

Anyway, geek-talk aside, it's a pretty entertaining film, though it was somewhat unsatisfying.