Ali

For the finale of my Black History Month film reviews, I think it would be appropriate to end off with a knockout by looking at director Michael Mann's 2001 epic, "Ali," another one of my all time favorite films. In the starring role of Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali, we have one of the greatest actors and former rapper, Will Smith. When I was growing up, I idolized Will Smith because this guy was funny, and his raps were clean. He actually said that his mother, Caroline Smith, had threatened him that if he swore in his raps, she would not listen to them. Also, he is a family man, so I guess that also makes sense as well. Now, onto Will Smith preparing for this role:

James Lipton had asked Will how much he normally weighs, and his response was, "I probably walk around at about 198, 199." For "Ali," he buffed up to about 223 lbs. He did this by being taught how to box from Darrell Foster, who got Will into the conditions. Essentially, they were doing this schedule, approximately a year before the film started shooting: at 6AM the day started with a three-mile run, eat, rest for an hour, and then go into the boxing gym around 10:30 or 11AM. They would watch footage of Ali's fights, and from that, they would work the moves, hit the bag, just training as a fighter. So, you could say that this is a full training camp. Everyone on the film, meaning all of the other fighters, are actual professional boxers, none of them are actors. From 11AM to 1PM was the boxing training session, then a lunch break, and after that, Will would do dialectic training from 2-3:30PM, then Islamic Studies from 3:30-5PM, and at that time, they would go into the weight room. By the time of the shooting, Will was on auto-pilot and "was" Muhammad Ali. There were moments of being tired, drained, beaten, feeling defeated. Michael Mann shot this film in seven cities on two continents, but Will knew that he wasn't going to stop until it was perfect, even though this was a tiring film to work on. He actually felt comfortable being with Michael Mann, who he calls a "machine, the truth, and the closest to a pure genius that I've ever had the pleasure being in contact with." Both Michael Mann and Will Smith put up their salaries to cover any cost overrun on this film to make sure that it got done right. This shows that both of them were very committed to this film being successful, and they put their salaries up because they believed in what they were doing. Will actually said all of this to James Lipton.

In the role of Ali's corner man, Drew "Bundini" Brown; we have one of the funniest actors, comedian, writer, producer, director, composer, pianist, singer, and recording artist, Jamie Foxx. He got this role through Will Smith, who Jamie has described, "here is a brother who is already at the top, and most times when people get to the top, they close the door and don't let anybody in." Will Smith talked to Michael Mann and said that Jamie was the guy. Michael Mann looked at Jamie and said, "What? He looks nothing like Bundini Brown," and Will replied, "I'm telling you, yo, this is the guy." Jamie can never forget going in to do his screening with Michael Mann, who is another big time director, and when Jamie was reading, he went, "And, action." After that, he stood over Jamie's shoulder like a hawk, and would go, "Cut, cut, cut, cut. And, action again," while still standing like a hawk over Jamie's shoulder. Jamie had no idea what was going on, thinking, "Is he going to kiss me in my ear?" When he got the role, he put a little weight off, shaved his head, and after he was given a tape, he came in. When Michael asked Jamie what he got, Jamie said, "Muhammad Ali is a Prophet! How you going to beat God's son?" and Jamie said that some of that magic happened. Some of the film was shot in Africa; Jamie was blown away by the African music, and began to like it.

The film starts off with Ali finally stepping into the ring for a heavyweight title match with Sonny Liston, played by Michael Bentt. The movie is shot in real time, and feels like an actual boxing match you're watching on TV. For those who have seen Ali's fights on TV or online knows his fighting style and knows that his bout with Liston is one of the legendary matches in boxing history. Ali's boxing style is very much identical to the speaking style of his friend Malcolm X, who is played here by Mario Van Peebles. Now, there is nothing wrong with this performance, since he does an outstanding job as Malcolm X, but Denzel was more believable, in my opinion. Jon Voight really gets Howard's Cosell's voice down, but gives him a softer, more of a private side to him. Throughout the film, it is really enjoyable to watch and does stand to be one of the best, if not the best, films to ever be about Muhammad Ali.

Now, the third act is Ali's most memorable match against George Foreman, played by Charles Shufford, in Zaire, Africa. What can I say but, there is no other way that this film could end than with the most epic and memorable matches that Ali ever had in his career. This film is one of the best for Will Smith and Jamie Foxx, and is quite literally, a knockout. People might even say that it is an African version of the epic boxing film, "Rocky," which may or may not be true. I guess if you saw both films, you can probably say that, but that probably isn't the case, since "Ali" is biographical as opposed to "Rocky."

“Ali” was budgeted around $100 million, a major investment for 2001 that was safe by the casting of Will Smith and the commitment of Mann and Smith to cover cost overruns. Mann made most of his budget to the take the production on location to major sequences in Ghana, South Africa and Mozambique (Sean Axmaker said, “Standing in for the former Zaire, now the war-torn Congo”). Smith said that shooting on location was important to his performance in the final scene as it gave the opportunity to connect with the country, the culture and the people of Mozambique, just as Ali did in Zaire while training for his Foreman match in 1974.

This is what Sean Axmaker noted in his review, “The film was released to mixed reviews but drew almost universal praise for the performances. Roger Ebert wrote that Smith was "sharp, fast, funny, like the Ali of trash-talking fame" but found the film "long, flat, curiously muted film." Variety critic Todd McCarthy called the film an "ambitious and cold study...a picture that feels bottled up rather than exuberant" but that Smith "carries the picture with consummate skill." The film failed to make back its cost, according to Box Office Mojo, but both Smith and Voight received well-deserved nominations for their performances and the film remains a respected portrait of the athlete and the man still revered as one of the great heroes of the 20th century: sports legend, cultural icon and outspoken citizen of the world.”

Even though this film was met with mixed reviews, I simply liked this film. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Mann had gone to Ali himself and spoke to him about his career and his entire life so that they could depict it just right in this film. Ignore all the reviews that everyone has said that have been negative, go out and see this film for yourself to see if you agree with all the negativity or not. That’s what I did, and I didn’t know that this film had mixed reception until I had sat down to do this review. Still, it’s one of those boxing movies that you have to see.

Well, thank you so much for tuning into my Black History Month film reviews. Stay tuned for more of my reviews coming right at you.