Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee! (Ali (DVD))

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Ali (DVD)
Date:	24/03/09 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent acting, good storyline

Disadvantages: Less of what we were shown and more of the rest of his life

Ali is a film which shows part of the life of Cassius Clay. I have seen parts of this film before but as I saw it for a bargain price I decided to get it and actually watch the whole thing.

The film starts with Cassius going for a shot at the title fight which he does win and soon becomes the Heavy Weight Champion of the World. He is close friends with a man called Malcolm X who is a black Muslim and has talked Cassius Clay into converting to become a Muslim like him. Malcolm X is not very well liked as he is a known trouble maker. Cassius Clay is accepted as a Muslim and soon has the new name of Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali is now champion of the world and is more than happy to use his fame to put across is political views and how the black Americans should stand up for themselves and demand to be treated as equals.

Muhammad goes on to win more fights and he soon become undefeated but his luck is about to change when he is enlisted in the US Army which he refuses to do so now faces a very lengthy court case and the possibility of 5 years in prison. As a result of the court action he looses his boxing licence, all his money and he is unable to travel to fight. He soon finds himself skint and in need of help. He looses his title which has now gone to Smokin Joe Fraser and he is not happy about this.

Will Ali be able to win his court case and ultimately win back his title or is he now destined to be a boxing has been?

Firstly I would like to say what a fantastic job Will Smith did with the role of Ali. He played the part extremely well and I was believing in the character. Even my hubby commented on what a great job he did with the boxing matched and how he had Ali's moves down to a fine art. He really did do a lot of research for this role which did pay off. I thought the character did come across as arrogant but I know a lot of it was his speeches to his fellow competitors but also I found he was very big headed towards his family, friends and wife which I had not before thought he was like.

The supporting actors and actresses in the film were also very good and added more depth to the film and showed what a good support group he had, well until things went wrong for him and then certain members deserted him.

The setting for the film was the 1960's and I though that a lot of attention to detail was put into this and everything fitted in extremely well. I also liked the soundtrack which was used and I did find I was toe tapping to some of the songs as hubby did ban me from singing along!

The fight scenes were excellent and looked so realistic. I thought that a lot of time and effort was put into making these. I thought that all of the people involved had to be extremely fit and also the competitors looked extremely like the real people which they were portraying.

The DVD which I have does have some bonus material which includes:-

The Making of Ali
Behind the Scenes
Cast and Crew SoundBits
Trailer
Animated Menus

We have not had chance to watch any of these features yet but I don't fancy them anyway. Hubby says he would like to watch them so if he ever does I will get his opinion of them and update this review for you.

I managed to pick my copy up for £2.49 on EBay which I think is a bargain price as this is the 2 dick special edition. I have seen the single dick one in Tesco for just £3 which I think I a bargain price.

The running time of this film is 150 minutes which I felt was just too long. I think the film may have benefited from more about the start of his career and how he became such a good boxer and less time showing the middle parts and slightly more of the latter of his career. The film did just centred around the middle parts of his career which I was quite disappointed about. I think that the parts about his personal life which were included in the film were good as it did show a different side to him but again I think less of the parts which were shown and more of a wider time frame would have been more interesting.

The film has a certificate of 15 which think may be a bit too high and children of about 13 or 14 may enjoy this film.

I do recommend this film to any boxing fans or Will Smith fans or again any one who wants to watch a very good film.

Summary: A great portrayal of some of Ali's boxing career.