Ali Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Ali Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 17, 2017

Boxing films have long attracted audiences. But from classics (Rocky, Raging Bull) to contemporaries (Southpaw, Million Dollar Baby), the genre's mainstay pillar of excellence has always been character study, not crude boxing action. Director Michael Mann, who knows a thing or two about juxtaposing character with violence (Heat, Collateral) delivers a gem of a movie in Ali, a film that embodies the Boxing genre's excellence, peering -- gazing, examining, finding -- into the psyche of its title character and discovering the person behind the gloves and shaping the story of his career in the ring by telling his tale outside of the ring. The film captures Ali's boxing talent, yes, but it also delves deeply into his personal life, his worldview, the world's view of him and the intermixing of internal and external factors that made him a champ, made him a fascinating cultural icon, and made him a revered legend.

The film opens with Cassius Clay (Will Smith) preparing for and weighing-in against rival Sonny Liston (Michael Bentt) with the championship title on the line in their fight to come. Clay defeats Liston and becomes an instant celebrity. But with his celebrity comes more scrutiny, which in turn sees Clay find himself, convert to Islam, and rename himself Muhammad Ali. The film follows his career in the ring and outside of it against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s and his place in the world in the time of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam conflict, including the assassinations of Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (LeVar Burton) and the personal, political, and social fallout for refusing his draft orders into the U.S. military. The film further explores his tenuous relationship with Sportscaster Howard Cosell (Jon Voight), marriages and affairs, and key in-ring opponents including Joe Frazier (James Toney) and George Foreman (Charles Shufford).

Boxing -- weigh-ins, smack talk, and of course the actual fights -- is almost secondary in the film. Mann does cover them with substance and grounded flair alike, but in no way is Ali singularly about the champ's training, preparations, rivals, or even his boxing skills. All of that weaves into a larger character narrative that explores the human being at the center of it all, his place in the world, his influence on the world, and the world's return influences on him. The film's heart is Ali's heart, his center as a man beyond the ring, respecting that it's his talents in the ring that gained him notoriety but that it's the man beyond the ring and the sporting accolades that made him a legend and his story worth telling. It's as much about his politics as his punches, his religion as his ring presence, his soul as his swift jabs. Mann's ability to discover, explore, balance, juxtapose, shape, and influence the entirety of Ali's life -- at least the central part of his life depicted in the film -- makes the movie, and makes it special. It's thematically relevant, dramatically gripping, a prototypical tour-de-force sort of film that blends story with astronomically good yet grounded production values that make the movie soar.

Indeed, Mann's attention to detail and his cast's tremendous work on-camera elevate the movie considerably beyond even the engaging, but nuts-and-bolts, tale of Ali's prime in the spotlight. Ali is a movie rich and alive with texture, not just in its physical filmed form but its recreation and presentation of the character and the world, both of which are very much alive, raw, and real. Mann presents the era's tone and feel with a tremendous sense of access and realism; the viewer is effortlessly transported into the timeframe, whether in intimate moments with Ali, ringside, or amongst swarms of fans or press. Will Smith is fantastic in the lead. From the opening moments when he's repeatedly sparring with the speedbag, one can see the character forming: the determination and concentration in the eyes but a further access to the soul for all that's to come in his time to follow. Smith looks great in the ring, too, maneuvering and hitting with a grace befitting Ali's real ring presence. But it's his performance in the film's core dramatic moments that define the character, as he spars with Howard Cosell, discovers his identity, fights for his political and religious beliefs, makes love and makes friends and enemies. It's a texturally real and nuanced performance from Smith and, for an actor best known for lighter roles in movies like Independence Day, Men in Black, and Bad Boys, Ali ranks amongst his best, alongside The Pursuit of Happyness and proves his worth and abilities as a serious actor, too. Jon Voight is fully transformative and unrecognizable as sportscasting legend Howard Cosell, and Ron Silver turns in the movie's most under-appreciated (in the shadow of Smith's and Voight's Oscar nominations) turn as Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee (who also appeared in the recent Hands of Stone).

Ali Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ali's 1080p transfer generally looks very good, with some caveats. Mann and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have photographed primarily on film and various segments on video, the former of which tends to hold up very nicely while the latter shows some spiky noise, substantially lower resolution, and artifacts, all of which appear to stem from the source and not the transfer to Blu-ray. But even the filmed segments occasionally struggle. Pasty skin textures and flat clothing definition aren't uncommon, nor are they abundant. Generally, the image captures an attractive film-quality veneer, retaining a light grain structure and finding plenty of deep, intimate facial details and other examples of textural richness. Mann and Lubezki often shoot in shaky handled, which makes finer point textures more difficult to appreciate, but the image can be very good when it's really on. Colors are fine. The movie is a little dull and desaturated by its nature, but color stability and accuracy within the film's parameters satisfies. Whites occasionally appear blown-out, but black levels hold fairly deep and true. Skin tones appear accurate, again within the film's visual context. A few random pops and speckles can be seen throughout, but they're very hard to spot and very infrequent. It's not a traditionally beautiful film by its very nature, but Sony's presentation generally handles it rather well.

Ali Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ali arrives on Blu-ray with a fundamentally sound DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. From the initial black screen and opening titles, the presentation impresses with depth into the rears, spread to the side, and a quality sense of immersion into a crowd and detail to music. Such elements extend to boxing press conferences and matches, where crowd ambience is pleasantly full and richly defined, punctuated by in-ring blows and some nice support pieces, like the prominent ringing of the bell that's both positionally distinguishable and a bit diffuse through the stage. Music is quality, with pieces well spaced and enjoying pinpoint clarity throughout the range, including a healthy low end support. Good atmospheric details filter into the stage at numerous points, perhaps never so realistically positioned and pronounced as some background clatter in a gym around the 92-minute mark. Dialogue is generally clear and well prioritized, though there's an occasional dip in volume where it's forced to compete more with music than seems ideal; one of the best examples comes early on when Jamie Foxx's character's monologue can't rise above surrounding music. All said, however, the track is very good, stout, and capable in delivering aggressive immersion and nuance alike.

Ali Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Ali contains a new version of the film, "revised and re-edited by Mann," along with the following supplements. A voucher for a UV digital copy is included with purchase.

• On Set with The Greatest (1080i, 11:39): Raw footage with Ali pouring over storyboards, working with Smith in the ring, taking publicity stills with the actor, and greeting fans. Watch for a special appearance in the final minutes.
• The Making of Ali (480i, 28:56): A comprehensive look behind the scenes that covers all of the basics: working the boxing scenes, the real Angelo Dundee's contributions on the set, Smith's training for the role in the ring and out of it, Ali's presence on the set, Mann's direction, the film's score, the film's structure, its timeframe and the history it explores, shooting locations, recreating key fights from Ali's career and discussing the realities of the fights, and more.
• Ali Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:33).

Ali Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ali isn't quite a masterwork or the best film in the Michael Mann canon, but it comes awfully close. The movie occasionally falls into over length and overindulgence for Mann, but its core is splendidly realized, focusing much more on the man rather than the fighter, and by extension finding the fighter in the man. It's beautifully assembled beyond a few moments of slowdown. Casting and performances are absolutely fantastic and the movie is a treasure even amongst the long and storied history of Boxing films. Sony's Blu-ray is good, not great. Video is prone to occasionally stumble, though much of it seems at the source. Audio is engaging and what supplements are here are fine; the movie is deserving of a wider selection of extra content, though. Recommended.