Wonderful Movie

Good start, but then it gets ruined

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I'm not saying he's the worst actor out there but, he just didn't seem to fit the look of the real Mohammad Ali. I think he seemed to be more himself than Ali and plus, he doesn't fully look like Ali. They really should've concentrated and been more careful on the casting side while they were making this movie.Now I have to say, the boxing scenes were really well done but what puts me off was just the bad casting. Also I even didn't think Jamie Foxx should've acted as Ali's trainer, Drew Bundini Brown. He just acted too chilled just like himself but with this serious role, he just didn't seem to be prepared to be encouraging type. Thankfully I didn't watch the whole movie because honestly, it just bored me to tears. Its sad that the real Ali left us this year with Parkinson's disease. RIP Ali (The Greatest) <3

All the incredible acting was undone by sloppy-to-non-existent editing. I had to open the Wikipedia entry on Muhammad Ali to figure out who was who, where they were, and why people were saying what they were saying.Will Smith's and John Voight's excellent performances were wasted. The movie would have been greatly aided by displaying the names of towns and characters. It seemed like every time a new character was shown on screen, they were never introduced by exposition.The movie jumped around locations a lot, and the dialogue was confusing at times, unless you already knew the life story of Ali.Michael Mann can do better, but he seemed more interested in crafting the individual scenes instead of focusing on a coherent narrative. Thus, the movie was long, boring, and confusing.It was heartbreaking, I wanted to like this movie, but the editing ruined it.

It's unfortunate Ali lost money at the box office and actually is on the list for flops/turkeys of 2012. I loved this film both for its content and delivery. I know about Muhammad Ali but not to the extent that most others do and this was the first film I saw that really depicted him in a way that should be seen for those who are not fans of his. This film was emotional and a sign of good acting and directing. This film should not be judged for how much money it produced because it has so much more to offer as a story than just a film filled with special effects, this is more of raw truth and character.

To me, there are two separate things to review here: the film-story and the acting.In terms of the film-story, I really disliked it. You might ask how can that be since it's a bio-pic, and a fairly accurate one, at that. The problem for me was the way the film was fashioned, rather than a cohesive story line, it seemed more like a series of vignettes loosely tied together, with the viewer left to draw some conclusions. I really disliked it, and if it were not for the strength of the performances, I would have turned the over-long movie off rather quickly.But, the performance are terrific. The strongest, in my view, is actually that of Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X; perhaps the best performance of his career, though it ends (with Malcolm X's death) fairly early in the movie. But there is no denying that Will Smith's portrayal of Mohammad Ali is stunning; perhaps the best of his career. The look is "okay", but the voice mannerisms are startlingly accurate.There are issues with Jon Voight as Howard Cosell. I think his performance is quite good, but the makeup is almost laughable.The other supporting actors do their jobs well, though none stand out. I include in that comment Jamie Foxx...nothing notable there; his best role as Ray Charles a while off.Of course, a legitimate question is whether this is simply a movie that glorifies Ali. I don't think so. It portrays him as an interesting mix of a man who is, perhaps, a bit intellectual, but not well-educated. Who had less than a healthy respect for women (particularly his wives). But, ironically, also a man who understands dignity.The film ends with the win over George Foreman, so it's an incomplete biography.Not something I'd want to watch a third time.