Ali (2001)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers (WGA):

Gregory Allen Howard (story)
Stephen J. Rivele (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Forget What You Think You Know

Plot:

A biography of sports legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early days to his days in the ring.

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Muhammad Ali | Friendship | Victory | Malcolm X

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 22 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Cassius Clay / Cassius X / Muhammad Ali
Jamie Foxx	...	Drew 'Bundini' Brown
Jon Voight	...	Howard Cosell
Mario Van Peebles	...	Malcolm X
Ron Silver	...	Angelo Dundee
Jeffrey Wright	...	Howard Bingham
Mykelti Williamson	...	Don King
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Sonji
Nona Gaye	...	Belinda Ali
Michael Michele	...	Veronica Porche
Joe Morton	...	Chauncey Eskridge
Paul Rodriguez	...	Dr. Ferdie Pacheco
Bruce McGill	...	Bradley
Barry Shabaka Henley	...	Herbert Muhammad
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Cassius Clay, Sr.

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and brief violence. (also director's cut)

Runtime:

157 min | USA:165 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (re-rating) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (director's cut) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (original rating) | Brazil:Livre | Singapore:PG (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #37745) | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Accra, Ghana

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Charles Shufford, a real-life 235 pound heavyweight boxer with a 17-2 record who plays George Foreman, was given license to make his punches as real as possible, short of incapacitating the film's star.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: There's a scene where Ali is standing on a city street with a Sears department store in the background. The logo is current as opposed to that used in the '60s and '70s.

Quotes:

Muhammad Ali: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.

Movie Connections:

References Fight of the Century (1971) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Yes We Can Can

Deeply absorbing emotional trip 5/5 stars (Ali's jogging sequence in Afria will stab you in the heart with its emotionally wrenching revelation)

There are many critics out there who have given this film negative reviews on the basis that the film didn't succeed in giving the viewers a focused look at how significant and grand Ali was. I understand completely the motivations and arguments behind those negative reviews. However, I must say they misunderstood what the movie was trying to do. Because most thought Ali would be a standard bio-pic, the film was expected to cover a sprawling canvas of a larger-than-life figure of charisma known as Ali from childhood to present with deft focus on his life. This was NOT director Michael Mann's goal. Mann's ultimate objective, in my humble opinion, was to create an intimate portrait of a man whom the public saw only as a cultural icon. To give him a soul behind that grand persona. To reveal him as a fellow man among men; how he lived, how he behaved in his personal life, how he sat, how he looked, how he talked, every little insignificant moments of his life in the film were there to give the public an idea, a glimpse of him as a fellow human being and not as an icon or a symbol. That is why the movie was an absolute masterpiece. Although Will Smith's performance in the film was hypnotically amazing, I must say the real star of the movie for me was Michael Mann. From the first 10 minutes or so of the montage sequence in the beginning of the movie, Mann absorbed me right in with his achingly beautiful, intimate, and minimalistic photography and compositions. I still see the imagery in my head going on a loop and forcing me to play back the memorable images my eyes were exposed to as if they were photographic printing paper. The movie was so beautiful and poignant, I found myself weeping during the many moments of introspective scenes with Ali looking on towards the horizon or vacantly into nothingness as if internally struggling to find his identity. Before I stop myself in rambling on and on about how much I'm in love with this film and Michael Mann's directing style, I should note that there is a sequence in the movie where you won't resist in emotionally breaking down. The sequence in question is the jogging sequence in Africa where Ali runs past non-chalantly through a village and looks at children's murals on concrete walls of himself. I WILL NOT spoil this because I want you viewers to go through the same shock that I had.