Ali Review
by Tim Wick
A few years ago, a documentary called When we Were Kings won the Oscar.
The film is about the epic fight between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman for
the heavyweight crown. Having seen Ali and never seen When We Were
Kings, I would strongly recommend you rent the latter picture as it must be
better than Ali.
The central requirement for any biopic is to offer some sort of insight into
the character the film is about. Ali, for all of it's two hour plus
length, does not offer much insight into the man it is supposed to be about.
We know he wasn't a great husband - he was married four times. We know he
was a great fighter because he won the heavyweight title three different
times. We know he beat George Foreman. We know that he was a gifted
communicator. We know all this.
Then the movie tells it to us again with a kind of shaky camera work that is
indicative of Michael Mann's directorial style but suggested the film should
have been called The Blair Boxing Project. I'm not sure why Mann directs
all his films this way because I really don't think it lends itself to the
epic tapestry that is Muhammad Ali.
I suppose the camera work had a purpose, but it's purpose was lost as I
tried to figure out what I was supposed to look at. The fight sequences
were especially annoying not because I had trouble figuring out what was
going on but rather because I already KNEW what happened in that fight and
the way the scene drew on just made me long for more endless training
sequences.
I am a closet boxing movie fan. I don't particularly like boxing, but I
enjoy a good boxing movie. Rocky is a great film and I even like the
first sequel. One of my favorite con films is Diggstown. I really do
like boxing films. I was more than prepared to like this one. I had even
predicted this film would win the Oscar if it was any good.
But it's not any good. If not for the fine performance of Will Smith, this
would be one of the worst 2001 films I sat through. I think endured would
be a better word as I was honestly squirming through the final 30 minutes of
the film and I waited impatiently to leave.
Ali offers nothing of interest to keep the viewer engaged. Given it is
about one of the most compelling personalities of the 20th century, that is
a feat to be slightly admired. I mean, it would be akin to finding some way
of making a film in which Adolf Hitler is just a misunderstood nice guy even
though you were trying to make him look like evil incarnate. Your
intentions may have been good, but the film still doesn't hit the mark.
For example, the film spends considerable time on the set up for the fight
between Ali and George Foreman. But once the fight begins, you have no idea
what Ali's strategy is unless you already knew. I had heard of the "rope a
dope" strategy and knew what Ali was doing. My wife had no idea. The film
did not make it clear - you had to know already.
More than anything, you never see what a brilliant strategist Ali was. He
was a great boxer, but he was also great at figuring out what he needed to
do to beat the man he faced in the ring. This part of his ability was
glossed over to spend time on his faith and his fight to stay out of
Vietnam. These are things we knew and they should be included in a film
called Ali. How he mentally prepared for a fight was something we did not
know and something we still do not know.
I went to see this film because of Oscar nominations and despite poor
reviews. I knew that it was not likely to be as good as I hoped. I had no
idea that it would be the most dreadfully dull film that I sat through this
year. While not actually bad, it commits the cardinal sin of taking one of
the most interesting figures in history and making him no more interesting
than the guy who sells you lottery tickets at Super America.
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