The man behind the boxing gloves

Born Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali converted to Islam during the course of his boxing career, and turned his back on his Christian background and slave name. This was to colour much of his life outside of boxing; he divorced his first wife, for example, because although she converted to Islam herself, she refused to dress appropriately. He claimed that fighting in the Vietnam war was against his religious beliefs, leading to all sorts of trouble, including the possibility of a long prison sentence. Despite his personal life, however, he managed to stay on the top of his game in the boxing world, to become one of (if not the) greatest and most revered boxers this world has ever seen. This film is director Michael Mann's story of Muhammad Ali's life - or at least, his life between 1964, when he became the World Heavyweight Champion and 1974 when he knocked out George Foreman in the match known as 'The Rumble in the Jungle'.

Smith spent months training for this role. He learned to speak like Muhammad Ali, but even more impressively, he also learned to box so that he could perform the boxing that we see himself. This obviously enabled Smith to get under the skin of Ali, which no doubt helped his performance no end. There is more than good preparation for the role though. Smith gives a deeply moving performance; so much so that I was reduced to tears on more than one occasion - and I am not someone that easily cries at films. Smith's facial expressions when, for example, he hears of Malcolm X's death and when he realises just how much of a hero he is to some people are truly humbling (no apologies for sounding like Paula Abdul!). I don't think that Will Smith particularly looks like Muhammad Ali, yet his performance was so realistic that it didn't matter. I have never doubted that Will Smith is a great great actor, but I really believe this role tops them all. Superb.

I have already mentioned my dislike of boxing. I think one reason that I found this film so watchable is that there isn't all that much boxing in it, at least compared to the overall length of the film. If expecting a blow by blow account of his boxing achievements, this may well put some people off. For me though, it gave me a different insight into the life of a man I have previously associated only with boxing. I have heard some criticism of the fact that Michael Mann chose to concentrate on just one decade of Ali's life, instead of providing the audience with a straightforward biopic - the gripe being that anyone not familiar with Ali's career before 1964 would be lost. Personally, I had no problem with that - even though I had no idea before watching the film that Muhammad Ali and Cassius Clay were one and the same person (yes, I am that ignorant!), I found it fairly easy to work out what was going on. In any case, there really wasn't time to fit his whole eventful life into a film that is already over two hours long.

Music in film is rarely something that I notice - I believe that if the film is compelling enough, the viewer shouldn't be paying all that much attention to the background music. However, here, it is woven into the film in such a way that it becomes part of the film and I really enjoyed it. Sam Cooke features quite heavily, but what I really loved is the African music that is played every now and again - I don't know enough about African music to be able to place it, but it sounded great and fitted in perfectly with the film.

I really didn't expect to enjoy this film very much. However, it really did surpass my expectations - and that is coming from a non-fan of boxing. If you know a lot about Muhammad Ali and have a set idea as to how the film should go, you may be disappointed. Otherwise, I really think this film is worth watching, despite the length. I was left with the feeling that I had watched something really worth seeing. Recommended.