bmain77
06-08-2002, 11:51 PM
If you want to learn more about Muhammed Ali don't bother checking this one out. However if you want to see some great acting then you might want to consider grabbing this one some night.
Will Smith really impressed me. I know he got all kinds of accolades for his performance, but I still couldn't help but expect an impersonation of Ali, but he blew my expectations away. Really while watching the movie I never saw Will Smith on screen. I saw the greatest boxer in history. He was quite simply awesome. It was just like watching actual footage of Muhammed ALi's press conferences and fights. And all this is coming from a person who is a huge admirer of the man. John VOights Howard Cosell was also very very good. Again it almost seemed to be Howard Cosell and not someone doing HOward. Jaime Fox was also quite good. I wished they had much more of him.
Where the film loses points from me is with it's lack of any real info. The only aspect that Mann went into a lot of detail with was when Ali declared himself a conscientous objecter to being drafted into Viet Nam. But almost all the rest is glossed over. We aren't given enough about Malcom X, not enough of the marriages, and not nearly enough about JOe Frazier. WHile Mann didn't mind showing what a bad husband ALi was, he glossed over the more sordid details the Ali/Frazier rivalry. Smoking Joe was very instrumental in clearing the path for ALi to fight again. Mann barely shows this. Well leading up to their first fight, Ali completely turned the black community against Frazier and really railed against the man who was so helpful in getting him back in the ring. Frazier still holds a grudge against Ali to this day. It sort of bothered me Mann didn't spend some time with this.
While I didn't learn anymore insights into the man, not that I really expected too, I still was kept interested in the movie because of the many great performances. The only ones that were weak were by some of his wives, but for the most part they weren't given the most juicy roles to perform in. Really only 1 of teh 3 gets any decent screen time and she did do a good job.
6/10
Will Smith really impressed me. I know he got all kinds of accolades for his performance, but I still couldn't help but expect an impersonation of Ali, but he blew my expectations away. Really while watching the movie I never saw Will Smith on screen. I saw the greatest boxer in history. He was quite simply awesome. It was just like watching actual footage of Muhammed ALi's press conferences and fights. And all this is coming from a person who is a huge admirer of the man. John VOights Howard Cosell was also very very good. Again it almost seemed to be Howard Cosell and not someone doing HOward. Jaime Fox was also quite good. I wished they had much more of him.
Where the film loses points from me is with it's lack of any real info. The only aspect that Mann went into a lot of detail with was when Ali declared himself a conscientous objecter to being drafted into Viet Nam. But almost all the rest is glossed over. We aren't given enough about Malcom X, not enough of the marriages, and not nearly enough about JOe Frazier. WHile Mann didn't mind showing what a bad husband ALi was, he glossed over the more sordid details the Ali/Frazier rivalry. Smoking Joe was very instrumental in clearing the path for ALi to fight again. Mann barely shows this. Well leading up to their first fight, Ali completely turned the black community against Frazier and really railed against the man who was so helpful in getting him back in the ring. Frazier still holds a grudge against Ali to this day. It sort of bothered me Mann didn't spend some time with this.
While I didn't learn anymore insights into the man, not that I really expected too, I still was kept interested in the movie because of the many great performances. The only ones that were weak were by some of his wives, but for the most part they weren't given the most juicy roles to perform in. Really only 1 of teh 3 gets any decent screen time and she did do a good job.
6/10