During the first part of Ali, a biopic about champion boxer Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, I turned to my husband and whispered “If I wanted to see a prize fight, I'd have gone to one instead of this movie.” Shaking his head, Larry replied, “What’s wrong with you? Did you expect a movie like this not to have boxing in it?” He had a point, so I watched the rest of the film without uttering a peep.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy movies about professional fighters. My three favorites are Raging Bull, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and The Boxer. But each of these films incorporated more dynamics about the lives of the people involved than Ali does. And I don’t recall any of them showing a lengthy bout at the beginning of the movie. Guess I need more lead-in time before the punching begins.

That said, Ali is definitely worth seeing because of Will Smith’s (Men in Black) exciting performance in the starring role and Jon Voight’s (Pearl Harbor) uncanny impersonation of sports announcer Howard Cossell. When these two legends spar verbally with each other during their famous interview sessions, the film comes alive --- much more so than in its drawn-out ring sequences. Cossell hints Ali might not be physically up to his next fight. Ali counters by reporting that Cossell’s wife says he’s “not the man he once was,” then teases the announcer about his toupee. Through it all, it’s clear these two have a tremendous respect for each other. Nice work!

Smith practically transforms himself into Ali. He went from 185 pounds to 220 pounds for this athletic role and allowed his ears to be taped down. The former “Fresh Prince” is hardly recognizable here. However, more important than the physical changes are the different speech patterns and mannerisms adopted by the popular actor in his portrayal of The Champ. I found Smith especially effective in scenes where he tosses off those humorous Don Rickles-type insults at opponents. This is the Ali I remember most during his heyday.

“The hardest thing, I believe, was the acquisition of character,” says director Michael Mann (The Insider). “Only Will could have done this. Will became Ali so deeply from the inside out that he dreamed in Ali-speak.  Seeing Will as Ali, you know what Ali’s thinking without him speaking. And you know when what he says is guileless and when it is Ali being calculating to keep an opponent off balance --- in or out of the ring.”

How does the real Ali feel about this film? He endorses it wholeheartedly. “This is the only film that will tell it like it is,” he declares. “I’m the only one that knows the real story of my life, and Will Smith and Michael Mann are the only people I want and trust to bring that story to the screen.”

Although I hate to argue with The Champ himself, I believe Ali, despite its outstanding performances (which also include Jamie Foxx as quip-man Bundini Brown and Ron Silver as trainer Angelo Dundee), doesn’t do him justice. Filmed with jerky, hand-held camera techniques and only sketchily covering events from 1964 to the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman in Zaire, this movie neither “floats like a butterfly” nor “stings like a bee.” Instead, it ambles aimlessly from one incident to another with little cohesive thought. Ali’s conversion to Islam, his relationship to Malcolm X, his battle against the draft during the Vietnam War, his womanizing problems, and his will to win --- all receive jumbled attention.

For a better depiction of Ali and what he meant to millions of people, I prefer the magnificent 1996 Oscar-winning documentary, When We Were Kings.

(Released by Columbia Pictures and rated “R” for some language and brief violence.)