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ALI is Down In Round One? Thank You Lord !Review created: 01/20/03
by: bwyckoff1 -- a member of Epinions
Pros:
pro? You are a sadio-mascist and want to punish yourself.
pro? You are a sadio-mascist and want to punish yourself.
Cons:
Choppy, poor direction,puzzling dialogue
Choppy, poor direction,puzzling dialogue
O.K. I will admit it. I hate boxing. I think as a sport it is plebian and you might as well be watching the Romans fighting the lions in the coliseum in Rome. Think about it, two men go in a ring and fight each other till one of them either drops dead or is unconscious? I did enjoy the movie Rocky though and when the chance to watch a DVD of Ali came my way I thought with all its nominations I would give it a whirl. I wish this thing had been knocked out in the first round. This movie is such a lemon.
The Directors Folly
Michael Mann is the director and filmmaker of the movie and produced a choppy and poorly edited version of the life of Muhammad Ali that spans the portion of his life that ran from 1964 to 1974. The times were turbulent and the Vietnam War was raging. The filmmaker tried at the start to show us the life in the Afro-American nightclubs and the smooth sounds of Sam Cooke. The trouble is right from the start all you could hear was the music and no dialogue. After 15 minutes I was starting to think I was viewing an MTV video and kept waiting for the dialogue. The problem the director has here was he intersected the boxing and the life of Ali with everything else going on at the time. We had the assassination of Malcolm X, the Martin Luther King murder, the Vietnam War and everything in between. The result was a choppy and non-flowing mish mash of someone s life.
Actors Report Card
Will Smith played Muhammad Ali with many of the same speech and physical characteristics and with a choppy script did a decent job. The fight scenes were realistic, but often kept the viewer at a distance.
Many scenes were added of his cheating infidelities and his lusting after all sorts of women.I found some of his lusting after women quite amusing. Here is portrayed a man of utter religious conviction who needs to have his women think and act in a proper fashion, and yet he himself can not keep his pants zipped. One scene has romeo stating utter respect for his wife and stating he may be in love with a women he just did the dirty deed with about ten minutes previous. All this in the same sentence of dialogue almost made me drop my tub of popcorn on my lap.
Will tries to portray his utter conviction to the Islam religion. The film portrays this dedication and its founders as corrupt as the likes of Don King himself. They basically kick him out of the religion when his boxing career is suspended and magically reinstate him on the day the Supreme Court reversed its decision.
Ali is portrayed as a down on his luck athlete who despite going for a religious exclusion from the war was denied the exclusion and for five years waited for the Supreme Court to overturn the original ruling that he go to jail for not serving in the Army. It was during those five years that he was banned from fighting and lost the most powerful portion of his career path as the Heavyweight
Champion of the world. When he came back to fight the likes of George Forman, his abilities and strength were not the same. His body and mind took the brunt of his comeback, and he paid for it.
Jon Voight-Knockout for his Part
Jon Voight plays the savy reporter for Americas Wide World of Sports named Howard Kossel. Not only did Voight sound just like Kosell the crew made his face look very similar to the fellow. He did an outstanding job as the guy that Ali used as an advocate in the media to try and present himself in a positive light. Ali needed the press to be positive and Kosell always tried his best to keep him in the limelight.
Family Filmgoer Rating
The film is rated R. There is a share of violence as the sport of boxing itself is violent in its very nature. There are also a few sex scenes in the film. I would not think that anyone under 16 should see this film and think the rating system is fair on this one.
My Conclusion
I think if you enjoy boxing in film then pop some buttered kernels and sit down and watch the first film of Rocky. The story is better. The action is Better. The story flows like a dream.
Ali is a non- fiction film, but it is so far below in quality and direction, that I think that you can definitely do better. I would not want to watch this film again, unless under direct threat of punishment.
Round 2- put up your dukes.
The Directors Folly
Michael Mann is the director and filmmaker of the movie and produced a choppy and poorly edited version of the life of Muhammad Ali that spans the portion of his life that ran from 1964 to 1974. The times were turbulent and the Vietnam War was raging. The filmmaker tried at the start to show us the life in the Afro-American nightclubs and the smooth sounds of Sam Cooke. The trouble is right from the start all you could hear was the music and no dialogue. After 15 minutes I was starting to think I was viewing an MTV video and kept waiting for the dialogue. The problem the director has here was he intersected the boxing and the life of Ali with everything else going on at the time. We had the assassination of Malcolm X, the Martin Luther King murder, the Vietnam War and everything in between. The result was a choppy and non-flowing mish mash of someone s life.
Actors Report Card
Will Smith played Muhammad Ali with many of the same speech and physical characteristics and with a choppy script did a decent job. The fight scenes were realistic, but often kept the viewer at a distance.
Many scenes were added of his cheating infidelities and his lusting after all sorts of women.I found some of his lusting after women quite amusing. Here is portrayed a man of utter religious conviction who needs to have his women think and act in a proper fashion, and yet he himself can not keep his pants zipped. One scene has romeo stating utter respect for his wife and stating he may be in love with a women he just did the dirty deed with about ten minutes previous. All this in the same sentence of dialogue almost made me drop my tub of popcorn on my lap.
Will tries to portray his utter conviction to the Islam religion. The film portrays this dedication and its founders as corrupt as the likes of Don King himself. They basically kick him out of the religion when his boxing career is suspended and magically reinstate him on the day the Supreme Court reversed its decision.
Ali is portrayed as a down on his luck athlete who despite going for a religious exclusion from the war was denied the exclusion and for five years waited for the Supreme Court to overturn the original ruling that he go to jail for not serving in the Army. It was during those five years that he was banned from fighting and lost the most powerful portion of his career path as the Heavyweight
Champion of the world. When he came back to fight the likes of George Forman, his abilities and strength were not the same. His body and mind took the brunt of his comeback, and he paid for it.
Jon Voight-Knockout for his Part
Jon Voight plays the savy reporter for Americas Wide World of Sports named Howard Kossel. Not only did Voight sound just like Kosell the crew made his face look very similar to the fellow. He did an outstanding job as the guy that Ali used as an advocate in the media to try and present himself in a positive light. Ali needed the press to be positive and Kosell always tried his best to keep him in the limelight.
Family Filmgoer Rating
The film is rated R. There is a share of violence as the sport of boxing itself is violent in its very nature. There are also a few sex scenes in the film. I would not think that anyone under 16 should see this film and think the rating system is fair on this one.
My Conclusion
I think if you enjoy boxing in film then pop some buttered kernels and sit down and watch the first film of Rocky. The story is better. The action is Better. The story flows like a dream.
Ali is a non- fiction film, but it is so far below in quality and direction, that I think that you can definitely do better. I would not want to watch this film again, unless under direct threat of punishment.
Round 2- put up your dukes.
Review ID: 10000000001582457
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