Movie Review: Ali (2001)

It took me a long time to get used to Will Smith as Muhammad Ali. I was thinking that casting perhaps the most popular and widely seen Hollywood actor of his time as one of the most outspoken and widely seen sports figures of the 1960s and ’70s was a mistake. It just didn’t feel right at first, the way Will Smith mimicked the rhythm of how Ali spoke.

But I got used to it. Or maybe he got better as the movie went along. At any rate, it’s a two and a half hour movie, and by the end of it, I think Smith’s performance was one of the movie’s strengths.

Though he really doesn’t look anything like him, in terms of body type, he’s pretty good, and his physical acting in the ring is incredibly convincing (maybe some it was doubles, I don’t know).

And Smith has an incredibly talented supporting cast to back him, notably Jamie Foxx, Mykelti Williamson, Jeffrey Wright, Mario Van Peebles who does an excellent job as Malcolm X, and of course Jon Voight as Howard Cosell. Voight is great. Though the makeup is distracting, the performance rises above it.

It’s a good movie. It’s not overly complicated, but it’s about a fascinating subject, and it’s well worth a watch.

Rating: 7/10