Why can’t they make great bio-pics about the really great athletes? Twice Hollywood attempted to make a film about the legendary Babe Ruth, but The Babe Ruth Story and Babe were both so banal that they are destined never to be rented except for Ruth completists. Now Columbia Pictures attempts to buck the trend with a biopic about the other twentieth century athlete who most affected history—Muhammad Ali. Enlisting Michael Mann to direct the film breathed hope into the project. Mann's visual artistry and craftsmanship fashioned the best film about Hannibal Lektor (Manhunter), an insightful probing of the tobacco industry and 60 Minutes in The Insider, and created an epic Native American tapestry in The Last of the Mohicans. Unfortunately, his film Ali falls about as flat as Sonny Liston did in Lewiston, Maine. That match only lasted one round, however, and we have to endure two and a half hours before Mann’s epic ends. (Liston got a better deal)

Not all is lost in Ali. Will Smith does a very credible job of transforming himself into Muhammad Ali. Not only did he train for a year to get into boxing shape and pad his frame with 35 extra pounds of muscle, but he brings a natural charisma and his rap artistry into play during the press conferences—many of the verbal jabs and poetry are straight from the champ and delivered flawlessly. Smith watched tons of footage to get Ali's verbal patterns and cadence down. Often his body language and posture duplicate Ali exactly, and his natural playful sense of humor echoes the champ perfectly.

Actually Smith's heroic efforts may have influenced Mann to include more boxing footage than the film needs. The fight sequences are well staged, but the two Liston fights, the bloody Quarry battle, the Joe Frazier debacle, and climatic "Rumble in the Jungle" are so well known that the extended footage only serves to show how well Smith can "move like a butterfly and sting like a bee" and copy the "rope-a-dope" strategy to perfection. ESPN and other sports programs often re-broadcast actual footage of these fights, so why do we need so much of Will Smith's imitation? Much of this footage could have been trimmed to make the film more palatable.

The most basic flaws of Ali evolve from an unwieldy script that has no sense of focus. The one attempt to bring the film to manageable size was a decision to cover ten years of Ali's life—the turbulent time from 1964 to 1974 when he went from 22 year old champ, public announcement of his conversion to the Black Muslims, having his title stripped for refusing induction to the Army, and the miraculous match with George Foreman in Zaire. The problem this creates is that Ali still doesn't know what it wants to cover:

1. Institutional racism—a brief glimpse of young Cassius Clay looking at a blue eyed, fair skinned Jesus.

2. Role of Black Muslims—a few scenes with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, and two references to FBI surveillance that are quickly dropped after Malcolm X’s assassination. What happened to the FBI surveillance on Ali? Why not dig deeper into the lesser-known suspension of Muhammad Ali from the Muslims?

3. Ali's women—finally an introduction of “new” material is revealed to show Ali's relationship with his first three wives, but these scenes play like superficial diary entries.

4. The Draft—Ali became a major symbol during the Viet Nam War for his position on the draft, yet nothing new is revealed. It’s well known that Ali said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. None of them ever called me 'nigger.'" The film has one nice set piece (shown in trailers) with Smith poetically rapping as photographers and reporters surround him, but the overall coverage about Ali's court battles could have been lifted from Cliff's Notes.

5. Ali and Cosell—credit Jon Voight's makeup crew (with matching Cosell toupee) and his work at replicating Cosell's much imitated speaking style, but their symbiotic relationship is only hinted at superficially.

6. Ali and handlers—one nice moment that shows Ali's loyalty to trainer Angelo Dundee and his disdain for Don King. Jaime Fox also humanizes Bundini Brown’s role in Ali's corner.

7. Ali and his promoters—A couple of scenes demonstrate that Ali was aware that the Black Muslims, Don King, and others were using him for their purposes, but the scenes don't probe the surface.

8. Ali as promoter—this comes across fairly well when contrasting Ali with Smoking Joe Frazier, and Smith plays the dozens about as well as the real Ali in press conference scenes.

9. Ali's place in boxing—boxing matches are shown, but no insights are given to what made Ali so unique in history.

Placing a primary focus on any of these aspects could have illuminated Ali's life more effectively and streamlined film more artistically instead of attempting to cover Ali's entire life during the ten year period. Any aspirations Mann may have had about shedding light on Ali's importance to boxing gets lost in a mish-mash of trivial pursuits.

Filmmakers always face huge problems portraying mythic figures. So many ordinary, unremarkable films have been made about Jesus Christ, yet Martin Scorsese found a way to make a compelling film by using Christ as metaphor and focussing on His internal struggle between good and evil. Even less focused recent bio-epics like Spike Lee’s film about Malcolm X and Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi work better than Ali, partially because they portray figures who are far less known than Muhammad Ali.

Ali remains one of the most recognizable men on Earth, and the supreme boxing promoter of all time—not to mention his awesome boxing skills combining the power of Joe Louis with the quickness and skills of Sugar Ray Robinson. The real Muhammad Ali brought unparalleled interest, controversy, and joy to a sport that has been shrouded mostly with unsavory characters over the years.

The end to any film about Ali should bring a smile to our faces, and moistening to the eyes—the end to Mann’s plodding film only brings relief that it ends. Will Smith aside, why watch an actor's impression of Muhammad Ali when we can watch the real deal in boxing re-runs or the joyous documentary When We Were Kings that gives far greater insights to Ali's character?