One of the great sportsmen of all time, Mohamad Ali (nee Cassius Clay) deals with racism, women, the State Department, and predatory entourages while winning, loosing, and winning the Heavy Weight Championship of the World. The ring scenes seemed very realistic and although I'm not a fan of the 'sweet sport', I would have liked to see more about the Champ's coaching, training and boxing strategies. Apparently Will Smith put a lot of effort into the role but all I see is Will Smith pretending to be Mohammad Ali (perhaps due to watching 20 years of subsequent Will Smith roles). On the other hand, Jon Voight, buried under his Howard Cosell makeup is great as the legendary and often imitated icon of 1960s/70s sports broadcasting, and the rest of the cast is generally quite good (notably Mario Van Peebles as Malcom X) . While some people applauded the soundtrack, I found it overwhelming and distracting at times (my usually criticism of Michael Mann's directorial style). Good but not 'the greatest'.
Review of Ali
