Ali (2001)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  5 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Michael Mann is a filmmaker fascinated by people. We know this because his supposed high-octane crime-thriller 'Heat,' and and his supposed high-octane courtroom thriller 'The Insider,' were both really just melancholic character-studies about obsession and those left behind by it. You might imagine his high-octane boxing drama 'Ali,' would carry on in a similar vein, but Muhammad Ali is such a complicated and infamous character that the movie never fully gets under his skin at all.
  
  In many ways the biggest compliment you can give it there is that Eric Roth's script and Will Smith's central performance don't attempt to simplify him at all. Instead, you get to see the many layers of his complexities - he's both antagonistic and carefree, sad and funny, angry and fearless, political and ignorant, but most of all reactionary and impulsive, and Will Smith executes all of that brilliantly with Mann behind him delivering some spectacularly melancholic and striking individual scenes - particularly in the ring.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The thing is, the film ultimately feels more like a collection of events thrown together than a thorough, continuous deconstruction of a man. All those aforementioned elements of his character never seem to gel; the film just cuts from one scene to the next and we see different aspects of his personality in each which invariably are used to bring up different political or moral points. We're constantly left working to find connections and coherence within it all, and whilst it could be argued that that's a move which respects the audience, it's really one that gives it more of a documentary feel than a filmic one. That's odd coming from one of the most cinematic directors of the era, but even the rhythm of the piece is jarring and hinders any coherence, as some scenes which should be indulged as central to Ali's character are seemingly entered late and left early, whilst some go on for bizarre lengths of time in montage sequences backed by various pop songs. This jumpy nature means it doesn't even have the usual Michael Mann atmosphere to gel it together, and the result is a surprisingly aimless biopic overall.
  
  VERDICT: Muhammad Ali is an extremely complicated man, and whilst Michael Mann's 'Ali,' does attempt to draw his many personalities in a number of great scenes, they never seem to gel into one cohesive whole.

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