Ali

Starring: Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx
Director: Michael Mann

Rating: R

Review Posted: 6.16.02

By John Teves.

Academy Award nominee Michael Mann directs Will Smith in Ali, an epic drama about the best loved, sometimes reviled and most controversial international sports hero of all time. A man whose power extended far beyond the boxing ring.

ALI was a two and a half hours of sheer disappointment. It took me several days to finally commit to watching the whole film and completing this review. This film is not a breakthrough, not Oscar material, and quite simply just not very good. I’m not going to continue about how horrible this film is because I would just be displaying the same long drawn-out point that Michael Mann had intended for this film. I will however make it quick and simple: no blame should be given to Will Smith. His portrayal of the great Ali was superb. It is too bad the film just failed to capture the charisma and excitement.

>Read Craig Younkin's review!

Ali appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this single-sided, dual-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The picture was good, sharpness generally appeared positive. Some wide shots displayed a mild amount of softness. Jagged edges presented no issues, but I did detect some levels of edge enhancement. I also did notice some grain at times, nothing major, but it seemed a little heavy on some occasions.

Black levels seemed deep, while shadow detail was appropriately thick. Overall Ali provided a very good visual experience.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack didn’t provide an aggressive sound. This is not the most active soundtrack that I’ve heard, but that doesn’t mean that the movie didn’t display it’s share of ambient effects or  a nice mix across all speakers, especially during the fight sequences, but the overall fidelity seemed to sound lower than expected. I didn’t notice any signs of edginess or problems related to dialogue. Dialogue sounded natural and clear throughout the presentation.

In terms of extras, this DVD sucks. The only two things we get here is a trailer and some production notes. Do not be surprised if a "special edition" comes out around Christmas time.

Should you rent or buy this film? Overall, this "ALI" DVD looked solid and had excellent audio quality, but the film was disappointing. Also, the lack special features doesn't merit a rental, let a lone a purchase either.