When I first heard about “Ali” and that Will Smith was to play him, I had to pinch myself. Smith, a skinny somewhat talented actor, who seems to prefer comic relief, was an odd choice, and while he pulled of a decent performance in “Six Degrees of Separation”, he was best known for his mouth in “Bad Boys” and “Men in Black”. But after having seen “Ali”, all my doubts and reservations were turned into admiration. Smith not only gave a bravour performance as Ali, but as Muhammad Ali gave Liston “Talkin’ lessons, boxing lessons and falling down lessons”, Smith gave acting lessons.

Mann is one of today’s most accomplished auteur, as he in addition also is a great character director and has a great eye for compositions. And “Ali” belongs to his best films, in regards to the technical aspects: the direction is dedicated (especially Smith, Voight and Foxx are totally in character) and the mise-en-scene is perhaps his best yet. Notable here is Mann’s use of High Definition, in combination with normal 35mm film, a technique he developed further in “Collateral”, which needs a closer examination. Additional he used a special miniature camera, to literary be within the fight. Spending countless hours studying the fights, Mann recreates them punch by punch, having the boxers hitting each other for real, thereby creating the most amazing fight sequences yet seen.

Despite perfection in all departments, “Ali” is a flawed film. The story covers the central period of Ali (1964-1974), from where he, as Cassius Clay, wins the heavyweight championship of the world over Sonny Liston to his regaining of the title over George Forman, in the most famous boxing match ever, “The Rumble in the Jungle”. Where Ali has two lives, one as the icon of World Champion, the other as a man who loves women, there are two storylines present: The first deals with his career as boxer and his fight against the US government and the Muslim Nation, the other with his marriages. Where the first storyline is flawless, the “love interest” storyline slows the pace down and feels disjoined from the central plot.

In the “Directors Cut”, Mann adds about ten minutes of new material. The question is why?

Where a few of the new scenes add to character and theme, many of the new scenes feels superfluous, as we get little from the added information, and a few of the new scenes directly distorts the flow of the scene they are inserted into. We are talking “darlings” here. An example is the scenes involving friend and actor Bruce McGill (the Mobutu scenes). Where we already have one semi superfluous scene in the original version, we now have a new scene showing Mobutu coming to power. It is irrelevant for the storyline to know this and the scene even raises some questions, which never are answered directly. Where this clearly was a darling killed in the original version, one can suspect it being inserted due to his friendship with McGill. Finally, some of the scenes involving his three marriages now feels almost anorexic, due to the contrast of newly added scenes. The result is a different flawed film; improved in some areas, weakend in others: Its not better, nor is it worse, its just different. Personally, I prefer the original version.

But despite “Ali” being flawed, it is a stunning, historically quiet accurate film, which accounts the ten most important years in the life of the greatest boxer ever. Mann worked closely with both Howard Bingham (Ali’s photographer) and Ali himself, in order to recreate history as accurate as possible. The film is full of small personal touches, which one might not notice, but which Mann now elaborates upon in his commentary. Personally, I consider this his best film in terms of direction and towards Mann as auteur. In retrospect, I also dare say, that Smith deserved the Oscar for best leading male. So whatever flaws it has, it remains a very powerful and wonderful epic.
 

Henrik Sylow

(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Menus

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(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

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(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

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(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

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(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

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(Entertainment in Video - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Roadshow Home Entertainment - Region 4 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Columbia Tristar (Directors Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

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Report Card:

Image:	Columbia Tristar Directors Cut
Sound:	Entertainment / Roadshow
Extras:	Columbia Tristar Directors Cut
Menu:	Roadshow