A flawed but compelling biopic (Ali (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Ali (DVD)
Date:	26/07/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great performances and direction

Disadvantages: Overlong and covers only a small fraction of Ali's life

A Muhammad Ali biopic is seemingly one of the easiest to make - there's plenty of fascinating material to tell, but sadly, it appears there may be too much to fit into one film successfully, for Michael Mann's biopic, Ali, has decided merely to focus on a singel decade of his life, from 1964-1974, and therefore skimping on a lot of the more important details, particularly the personal ones.

The film begins as Ali is still under his "slave name" of Cassius Clay (Will Smith), and continues as he rises up the ranks, as well as documenting his friendship with Malcolm X. It can be at least said that the film captures a sense of culture, notably as it depicts the assassination of Malcolm X, which has a large impact on Ali himself. The film further depicts his drafting to the war, to which he refused to be a part of, and faced prison time, as well as his fights with Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974.

It's fair to say that the performances and direction are mostly outstanding, but it's a shame the film didn't cut out some of its ridiculously long slow motion montages in favour of infusing some more about the relationships with the women in his life, and also perhaps a little more in the fighting department past the Rumble in the Jungle. It glosses over a lot of his negative publicity, such as his supposed assault of his wives, in favour of a more flagrant jubilation of the man, which is, I guess, somewhat excusable.

A surprisingly muted biopic that covers only a decade of Muhammad Ali's incredible life story, but delivers Will Smith's best performance to date. Michael Mann's direction is atmospheric as usual, but also, as usual, makes for a film that is much longer than it needs to be.

Summary: Intriuging, if only a snippet of Ali