Ali

Michael Mann’s sprawling bio pic tries to cover big ground with this iconoclastic boxing figure. The results are more like a greatest hits as Mann tracks Ali’s rise in the boxing world and his status as a potent force in black politics. Will Smith inhabits the towering frame of Ali quite convincingly, turning in a performance which is more like a collage of Ali sound bytes. Along the way we become privy to some of the most influential and turbulent political movements in America; through Ali’s controversial association with activist Malcolm X, his conversion to Islam and his uncompromising anti-Vietnam war stance. While less savory aspects of Ali’s life (like his notorious womanizing) are left pretty much alone. Ali also draws on the mythical boxing match ‘Rumble in the jungle’ which was also the subject of the compelling documentary ‘When we were kings’. Cast includes: Jada Pinkett Smith, Jamie Foxx, Ron Silver, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Jeffrey Wright.