It has the unsurpassable merit of its main character, Muhammad Ali, who is both one of the most serious people in the world and one of the funniest.

| Apr 6, 2020

Smith packed on the pounds, unleashed some great boxing moves, and displayed a level of emotional pull that compelled audiences to see him as The Greatest.

| Mar 31, 2020

Brutal fight scenes and frank racial issues.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 21, 2010

I respect it enormously, but it feels like an art film in search of a movie. Mann recognizes the importance of Ali as an entertainer, but he's in danger of forgetting how to be one himself.

| Mar 31, 2008

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

The film gives Ali his due by refusing to idealize him or to gloss over his failings.

Full Review | Oct 3, 2002

Mann's compelling account of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali captures the considerable impact and charisma of the man who literally punched his way into the American consciousness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 29, 2002

Ali is a far more complex creature than this movie allows for.

Full Review | Jan 22, 2002

It is well-intentioned, sketchy, sprawling and unremarkable. At two hours and 38 minutes, it is also long-winded and exhausting.

| Jan 9, 2002

This could be the only movie we'll get on the fighter, and it's just not good enough.

| Jan 8, 2002

Like the fighter himself, Ali dazzles with its technique -- this is a big, impressively mounted movie, packed with meticulous, you-are-there details.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 6, 2002

It's the boxer you enjoy, not the sluggish 15 rounds the filmmakers put him through.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 6, 2002

It's good -- but Ali himself was the greatest. So a reluctant, kind of mild thumbs up for this.

Full Review | Jan 3, 2002

It's not a TKO per se -- where did this will to power come from, anyway? -- but it is a helluva fight.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 30, 2001

Loaded with bravura filmmaking flourishes, and exceptional performances.

Full Review | Dec 27, 2001

Clearly a triumphant labor of love for its star, Will Smith. Credit director Mann, above all, for recognizing the performance for what it is: A knockout.

Full Review | Dec 26, 2001

If Michael Mann's new biopic of Muhammad Ali is not right up there with the gold standard of boxing biographies, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro's Raging Bull, it misses by only a whisker.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 26, 2001

Smith makes contact with enough of Ali's swagger, sweetness, wit, and pride to convince us that justice is being done to the boxing champion.

Full Review | Dec 26, 2001

Very good and definitely worth seeing, if only to be reminded of the extraordinary life of one of the most extraordinary figures of the last half of the 20th century.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 26, 2001

Here Smith is not the gangly charmer beloved by his fans, but a solid mountain of a man.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 25, 2001