Director Michael Mann’s career has been leading up to this point. From his achievements in television with creating Miami Vice to his increasingly impressive films such as Heat and especially The Insider, he has developed a keen sense of storytelling and film direction. Mann, at this point in his career, should have been the right man to bring the life of Mohammed Ali to the screen. Unfortunately, with perhaps his most ambitious film to date, he has produced his first flawed film.
It is unfortunate that a living legend like Ali is given such a mediocre treatment on film. Though the effort to make a great film is evident, the overall end product is so superficial that the audience leaves the theater feeling nothing.
It is as though the filmmakers have failed to delve deeply into Ali’s character and his flaws out of politeness. Such timidity does not make for great filmmaking. Even though Ali is incredibly famous around the world, better character development is needed for the movie to succeed. The screenplay only scratches the surface of troubles that Ali encountered after he first became the heavyweight champion. It doesn’t explain the importance of his setbacks, other than having characters nonchalantly mention how bad things get.
Perhaps the only viewers who will truly understand the movie are those who followed the fighter’s career. Supporting characters appear without any introduction or exposition. They are only there because they were real people who were around Ali. Only true Ali fans know who Bundini Brown and Howard Bingham are before seeing the film. And perhaps they are the only ones who know who Brown and Bingham are when they leave the theater. The film works best as a companion piece to whatever Ali biography the moviegoer reads beforehand.
It is hard to achieve a successful character study without the development of character. What the film ultimately becomes is a nearly three-hour photojournalism essay re-enactment.
Will Smith, who buffed up a great deal for this film, makes the most of what he is given to work with. This is his most ambitious and best work and he achieves it all through facial expression. The only look inside the man is what Smith projects in subtle glances and quiet introspection. This is the first evidence of the great actor who lurks under that smirk since his incredible work in Six Degrees of Separation. Though the light-hearted Will Smith role would be missed if he ever decided to focus on straight drama, it appears he would be able to do so with great ease. His performance is the best part of the film and it is too bad that he didn’t have a better script to work from.
But in looking at Smith’s performance you forget that incredible actors surround him. Jamie Foxx and Jeffrey Wright are wasted on thankless roles. Mannequins could replace them in the film and the audience wouldn’t know. It is too bad considering the potential that Foxx showed for serious drama in Any Given Sunday; but it is especially unfortunate to not utilize Wright’s acting genius. It is just a matter of time before he is acknowledged as one of the finest actors ever. Moviegoers should see some of his finer work in Basquiat and the HBO film Boycott.
The only other actor who is able to achieve a standout performance is Jon Voight as Howard Cosell. He is nearly unrecognizable with his makeup and the nearly perfect imitation of Cosell’s unique voice, but he is able to go beyond a caricature of the sportscaster and finds a dramatic center as one of Ali’s greatest friends.
The other wonderful part of the film is Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography. Capturing the feel of a heavyweight fight is hard to accomplish, especially for the fights in Ali, which may be very familiar to the boxing fan. But Lubezki and Mann have developed a wonderful use of small cameras in the ring with the actors, which produce the effect of the audience being pummeled by the awesome strength of Joe Frazier or George Foreman.
In the end Ali is a giant disappointment for those who have waited for a proper treatment of the fighter’s story. The light touches concerning his troubles with women, the government and the Nation of Islam takes so much away that one’s interest depends on how much they knew beforehand.
Staff Writer Steve Allan can be contacted at: [email protected]