Hey folks, Harry here with our second look at ALI. I have long been a believer that we needed an additional 25 years before this movie needed to be made. To get distance on the events surrounding ALI. Right now, nearly everything that Ali did was burned into my skull, and skulls of everyone older than me. However... I'm a huge fan of Michael Mann and his films. Will Smith has impressed me with his physical transformation, and I go into this film with the hope that Smith knocks me around the theater with his performance. HOWEVER, that first review that Moriarty posted worried me, in that it commented upon how we never really get to know how Ali felt about anything, never getting any further into him than we already are. That was the problem with the otherwise great, MAN ON THE MOON. Ultimately it was a film of mimickry not enlightenment. I'm still quite enthusiastic about the film... but hoping that it's more than mere recreation...

Hi Harry!

I just attended a screening of "Ali" directed by Michael Mann and starring Will Smith at the Pacific Lakewood Theater in Lakewood, California. I remember awhile back on this site when casting was first announced that there were some firmly in the camp who thought Smith wrong for the title role. Let me tell you right off he nails it. Smith will positively be nominated for an Oscar, mark my words. He might even win.

This hasn't been a great year thus far for American movies and performances. Well, "Ali" is of a quality film lovers have been pining for around the corner as the fall season approaches. It's not a flawless film, however. We were informed that the screening was its first public one ever, and then heard the usual disclaimers about the print: certain minor optical effects were yet to added, the music was temporary, titles were tentative, etc.

I pretty much knew going in that as a bio-pic "Ali" would be a long movie, time-wise, and predicated on Mann's previous work like "Heat" and "The Insider," the director isn't one to shy away from length. The treatment here certainly deserves the clock, but "Ali" does need some obvious and not-so-obvious trimming at 2 ? + hours. The pacing lagged in spots. The difference will possibly mean a great film from a very good film. There's plenty of art in this film, moments of sheer beauty reflective of its maker's intelligence and ambition. There's also plenty of exposition problematic to the bio-pic genre that Mann doesn't quite sidestep. And Mann is also up against the terrific documentary "When We Were Kings" for what the story focuses upon in its final act. I've never seen Ali's own "The Greatest" so I can't say how much it factors in.

I was never too crazy about the casting of Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X, and I posted my reservations on this site in Talkback. Mario's no Denzel, lets face it. He's does better than I expected, although I still would've preferred another actor. The Malcolm X portion of the film needs trimming, moreover, and even at times felt derivative of Spike Lee's take on the character. Even more distracting was the choice of the song "A Change Is Going To Come" during a critical scene involving Malcolm X that Lee used brilliantly, but here seemed especially derivative by comparison. I hope this tune, albeit great, was just part of the temporary sound track.

The movie has a terrific cast. Jamie Fox, playing against type, and Jon Voight as Howard Cosell (who'd have thought he'd be Jim Phelps, Roosevelt, and the sportscaster with the infamous toupee?),leave strong impressions; the usually incredible Jeffrey Wright isn't given much to work with as photographer Howard Bingham, and when he does have dialogue his delivery for some reason reminded me of his "Basquiat." Ali's women provide solid support, but this aspect of the film feels a bit attenuated. It's kind of cool to see Jada Pinkett as Ali's first wife, nevertheless. The woman who plays Ali's second wife does a fine job with her character, but her lines, like some written for the character of Malcolm X, have an expository feel to them. There's also an awkward jump cut where she and Ali are courting and then suddenly they are married and have a child.

I loved the way "Ali" opens, images of the boxer juxtaposed with a recreation of a nightclub performance by Sam Cooke that culminates in his excellent "Bring it On Home To Me" and the Liston-Clay bout. I hope Mann DOES NOT cut a single frame of this very long sequence. It's at once sublime and positively rapturous. I've been a big fan of Mann's since "Thief." And I would rate "Last Of The Mohicans" as the #3 film of the Nineties (#1 would be "Goodfellas," #2 "Pulp Fiction" - in case you were wondering). The opening sequence in Ali is among his best work. Just stunning. It really is the art that the rest of the film aspires to and frequently achieves. Good luck to Mann getting "Ali" out by Christmas. I'd say I'm in the film's corner.

¡Viva Zapata!