Ali is a 2001 American biographical sports drama film co-written, produced and directed by Michael Mann.
The project began in 1992 when producer Paul Ardaji optioned the movie rights to Muhammad Ali's life story.
Filming began in Los Angeles on January 11, 2001, on a $105 million budget, shooting took place in New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Mozambique.
[3] Ali then refuses conscription for the Vietnam War and is stripped of his boxing license, passport, and title, and sentenced to five years in prison.
After marrying 17-year-old Belinda Boyd and a three-year hiatus from boxing, his conviction is overturned in Clay v. United States, and in his comeback fight, he goes against Jerry Quarry and wins by technical knockout in three rounds.
The project began in 1992 when producer Paul Ardaji optioned the movie rights to Muhammad Ali's life story.
[5] Gregory Allen Howard wrote the initial draft of the script, which had the working title Power and Grace.
Prior to Mann's involvement, Spike Lee had been in negotiations to direct the film, feeling that only a black man could do justice to Ali's story.
[10] Smith, however, preferred Mann, who turned down the opportunity to direct early versions of The Aviator, Shooter and Savages to commit to Ali,[11] and brought Eric Roth on to co-write the script.
The site's critics consensus: "Though perhaps no film could fully do justice to the fascinating life and personality of Muhammad Ali, Mann's direction and Smith's performance combine to pack a solid punch.
[18] Roger Ebert derided the film with two stars in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, and mentioned, "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".
[19] In Variety magazine, Todd McCarthy wrote, "The director's visual and aural dapplings are strikingly effective at their best, but over the long haul don't represent a satisfactory alternative to in-depth dramatic scenes; one longs, for example, for even one sequence in which Ali and Dundee discuss boxing strategy or assess an opponent", but he did have praise for the performances: "The cast is outstanding, from Smith, who carries the picture with consummate skill, and Voight, who is unrecognizable under all the makeup but nails Cosell's distinctive vocal cadences".
[20] USA Today gave the film two and half stars out of four and stated that, "for many Ali fans, the movie may be good enough, but some perspective is in order.
[21] In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell proclaimed Ali to be a "breakthrough" film for Mann, adding that it was his "first movie with feeling" and that "his overwhelming love of its subject will turn audiences into exuberant, thrilled fight crowds".
Mann opens with a thrilling montage that, spinning in and out of a nightclub performance by Sam Cooke, contextualizes the hero in his times", and concluded that, "Ali's astonishing personality is skillfully evoked but, in the end, remains a mystery".