Ali
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New Times (L.A.)Bill Gallo
Muhammad Ali's spirit, his life force, is not quite present here, despite Smith's astonishing mimicry and Mann's considerable perspiration. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
What's lacking here is a sustained thematic focus -- at least five people worked on the script, including Mann, which may account for the absence of a clear through line -- though the spectacle and characters keep one absorbed. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
For a movie, Michael Mann's Ali is great radio. It's almost better to squint, so that you see the film in soft focus, just fury and motion and blurred faces; meanwhile, with your ears cranked open wide, everybody sounds much more like they should than looks like they should. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's a brilliant impersonation; Smith gets Ali's speech patterns and Louisville accent exactly right, and astonishingly convincing facial prosthetics complete the transformation. But he never quite finds the man under the enormous image; those quintessential Mann moments, during which Ali is left alone to brood, feel surprisingly blank. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
Well-acted and skillfully made, the film offers enough that is worth seeing, but its idiosyncratic nature is sure to limit its mainstream appeal. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
I respect it enormously, but it feels like an art film in search of a movie. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Watching Ali, you can be sure of experiencing two opposing things: a sterling performance from Will Smith as Muhammad Ali and a bewilderingly punch-drunk movie from Michael Mann. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Ali nails its subject's anger and courage, but not his lilt; his swaggering boasts but not his sly self-irony; his power but not his grace; and his inner turmoil but not the outward joyousness that has made us come to love him.
50
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
We've seen Ali as the charismatic star of the real-time drama of his life. "Ali," for all its flashy filmmaking, just doesn't compare. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
It was against all odds that Michael Mann ("The Insider") would make a boring movie focusing on the most eventful decade in the life of the most dynamic athlete in history. But that's what he has achieved with Ali. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A long, flat, curiously muted film about the heavyweight champion. It lacks much of the flash, fire and humor of Muhammad Ali and is shot more in the tone of a eulogy than a celebration. There is little joy here. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Ultimately, Ali is a far more complex creature than this movie allows for. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Ali‘s narrative laxness comes at the fault of boxing time (a good one-third of the film’s three-hour time span is spent inside the ring). You say: But Mann knows how to direct a fight. But I say: So what? Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
Will Smith flies like a butterfly, but what director Michael Mann does to the greatest fighter of all time just stings. Read full review
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