Starring Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Nona Gaye, Michelle Michael, Michael Bentt, Joe Morton, Charles Shufford. Directed by Michael Mann. Cassius Clay (Smith) was a young U.S. gold medalist training in New York to fight fearsome Sonny Liston (Bentt) for the World Heavyweight Boxing title. Training for months with trainer Angelo Dundee (Silver) and motivator Drew "Bundini" Brow (Foxx), he brashly trash talks and predicts victory, with the press eating it up. At his side is friend and spiritual advisor Malcolm X (Van Peebles). After disposing of Liston, he basks in the adoration of the public and a beautiful cocktail waitress Sonja (Pinkett-Smith) whom he marries. ABC commentator Howard Cosell (Voight) and he begin a (mock) feud that promotes both of them. Soon he drops his wife and meets and marries a Muslim woman Belinda (Gaye) who was in love with him since she met him as a kid. But his hopes are derailed by the Army reversing his draft deferral and demanding his enlistment. Ali refuses, and is sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence which is commuted only after years of expensive appeals all the way to the Supreme Court. But he has lost over three years of his boxing prime. He returns to the ring for a few wins, and then a tough defeat against Smokin' Joe Frazier. But after George Foreman (Shufford) defeats Frazier, the stage is set for Ali to attempt to regain his crown in Zaire. Ali is based on Mohammed Ali's life from 1964 to 1974, from him starting out in professional boxing, to his over 3 years of being stripped of the heavyweight title after refusing to join the draft for the Vietnam war, and ending with his first fight against George Foreman in Zaire when he regained the heavyweight championship. After changing his name from Cassius Clay to Mohammed Ali, Ali became one of the most divisive sports figures ever, loved by many and vilified by many others. Many biographical films attempt to make the subject larger than life, more important, and better people than they really were. And Mohammed Ali is as his biographer Thomas Hauser suggests, "immortal in his own lifetime". Ali does the opposite. It takes a larger-than-life, legendary figure and makes him into a real person who was shaped by events around him as much as he shaped them. For me, this approach worked very well. The film does not concentrate on examining Ali as much as Ali's relationship to those events in the 1960's. We see his membership in the Nation of Islam, friendship with singer Sam Cooke, the effect of the race riots of the late 60's, the assinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, and his effort to make sure his fight with George Foreman stayed in Zaire. Ali was an enigma, and the film doesn't fully explain what motivated him. The film shows him to be implusive, such as his refusing to join the draft after his Muslim handlers had arranged behind the scenes to allow him to join and stay out of combat. It shows him to be a Muslim devout to the point of chastising spiritual leader Malcolm X for defying the Nation of Islam, but going after whichever female caught his eye (sometimes with the assistance of his Muslim handlers) whether he was married or not. It also shows him to be a master showman, keenly aware of his ability to entertain and the need to put people into the seats to watch him fight. Several times, with the help of his friend ABC commentator Howard Cosell, he would insult Howard and whatever fighter he was supposed to fight, then often go behind the scenes to talk warmly with Howard or go to the insulted fighter to arrange for a future fight. He often seemed to be fighting to gain the respect of those who didn't believe in him. The longest segment occurs in Zaire, and there Ali realize his effect on people, especially the poor inhabitants who through him see hope. Most of all we see Ali uncompromising desire to live his life as he desired without worrying what others might think of his choices. A man of intense contradictions, many times Ali complains of the injustices of the white man's world, associating himself with Malcolm X and the militant black muslims and chastising his first wife for straightening her hair and trying to fit in the white man's world. Yet he was the first to chastise Don King when disrespecting his loyal friend and trainer Angelo Dundee, and warmly embraced the overmatched Jerry Quarry after defeating him. Part of Ali's charm was not that he consistently planned his actions or statements, but often he uttered the brutally honest first thing that popped into his head. The film is shot in an unusual way, emphasizing close-ups and quick movement. The camera often darts around, often catching Ali, another fighter or some other character moving into range, and then just as quickly moving out. The effect is to show Ali and the events around him as elusive. The performances of the key actors are quite good, starting with a bulked-up Will Smith. Smith slips into the cadences and style of Ali, putting across the free-spirited and intense desire to live life his own way. Comedian Jamie Foxx is very convincing as Ali's loyal "motivator", especially in the scenes where he begs for his old job back. Jon Voight as Howard Cosell and Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X also stand out and like Ali, both characters are portrayed as real people caught in the times they lived. Ali is an unconventional, original biography of one of the 20th centuries most interesting and influential figures, and is one of the best films this year. 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