Have anyone else seen this movie? I just watched it, and i really think it is great. Will Smith does a great job. Its fun to see James Toney fight in the movie as Joe Frazier.
Like Jamie Foxx in Ray, Will Smith kept this film from stinking up the joint. He got a Oscar nod for the role, but lost to Denzel Washington for his work in Training Day.
This movie was awful. The performances were great, Will Smith as Ali and John Voight as Cosel were really good. The problem was that the movie was boring. It focused neither on Ali the great boxer, or Ali the rebel (Either side of the man would make a good movie). There was no drama in this film at all. If you did not know who Ali was, you'd walk away from this film thinking he was an okay boxer. The film might as well been about a mediocre champion. The film did not build up any of his oponents so, when he won it seemed no great accomplishment. A much better film about Ali is "the Greatest" starring Ali as himself. That film was sure to portray how dangerous Ali's opponents were. How people thought Foreman would kill him... I also reccomend the documentary "When we were Kings", about the Foreman/Ali fight.
I really like the movie, because it transported me into that time, the atmosphere really came across. Excellent choice of music and pictures. Will Smith and Jamie Fox were both amazing in their roles.
Underrated movie. Great performances by everyone involved. Good fight scenes. And I liked the political emphasis placed on the plot. It was mostly about the political ramifications of Ali's actions; his association with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, his religious beliefs, his outspoken condemnation of the war... Yes, the movie dragged in parts, especially in Zaire, and there were some elements that weren't very well fleshed out. But, overall, taken in the context of how Ali's actions and accomplishments affected him and the people around him over a ten year period in his life, it was a great film.
Interesting opinion. Given Smith's revious acting as a flyweight comedian and with movies like Independence Day, I thought he made an amazing effort - couldn't think of any actor becoming Ali like he did. I found that some of Ali's lesser aspects were shown - his womanizing and use of Islam to boss his wives around, his fallout with Malcolm X when Malolm was freeing himself of radicalism.
Ali is almost like a Disney movie the way it shows Ali as this saintly figure. Had the way he treated Joe Frazier and covered more than just 10 years of his life, I think it would have been a better film. Smith was the only good thing about it
