I Am Ali (2014)

recommended

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

When making a documentary about such a known figure as Muhammad Ali, the tough thing is trying to cover material that hasn't already been beaten to death. Fortunately, "I Am Ali" manages to do that, keeping the material fresh and looking at the subject matter from an angle I hadn't seen before.The "gimmick", so to speak, of this documentary is that it releases a number of "audio journals" (phone conversations) between Ali and his family members. This shows a side of Ali not usually seen by the press or in his public life. It is more of a father talking to his children, and that is kind of neat to hear from such a legendary figure.That being said, the journals are indeed kind of a "gimmick" in that they aren't used nearly as much as the trailer for this documentary would indicate. Instead, where this film really succeeds is in the wide range of people they talk to about Ali's life both in and out of the ring. This isn't just the "usual suspects", instead including such people as...-Daughters Hana & Maryum, son Muhammad Jr., brother Rahman, and wife Veronica. -Celebrities Tom Jones & Jim Brown -Manager Gene Kilroy -Marvis Frazier (son of Joe Frazier) -Fellow pugilists George Foreman & Mike TysonAll of these individuals share some of their unique experiences with Ali, providing stories spanning the emotional range from dramatic to romantic to comedic and everything in between. In this way, "I Am Ali" kind of follows the same format as previous documentary "Facing Ali" (which had many of Ali's opponents give their thoughts about The Greatest).Overall, "I Am Ali" is a great documentary for casual boxing/Ali fans or those who already "know it all". It is a bit sympathetic to Ali's personal side (he was also a carouser and terribly used by the Muslim Brotherhood, but those topics are not brought up much), but that is excusable because it really wants to focus on Ali's relationships with certain key individuals sans politics. As a whole, this doc may not be quite as good as "Facing Ali", but it is still a five-star effort that accomplishes the difficult task of gleaning something new out of the Ali story.

I Am Ali (2014) *** 1/2 (out of 4)There have been countless documentaries done about Muhammad Ali and there will probably be countless others made in the future. It's easy to see why there have been so many because there's just no doubt that Ali was one of the most interesting humans to ever live.This documentary here features interviews with his family (sons and daughters), his ex-wife, his friends (Jim Brown, Tom Jones), his boxing opponents (George Foreman) and many others as they discuss what made Ali the man he was. Throughout all of the interviews we are given audio clips and archives interview footage with the man himself who helps talk about some of the most memorable moments in his life from early fights to his Vietnam battle to Islam. We also get his classic fights covered as well as his later days (this was filmed before his death).If you're a fan of Ali then I'm sure you've seen countless other documentaries where this same footage was talked about so what makes this one so special? Well, it's actually just Ali and his rather amazing story. The benefit here is that so many of his children are interviewed and we get to hear stories about him as a father and we get some great audio recordings of him talking and playing with his children. There's a great story with Mike Tyson where the boxer talks about what Ali did for him.I AM ALI is certainly a highly entertaining look at a terrific man.

Review: I was really looking forward to this movie because it's been some time since there has been a documentary on Ali, but this movie didn't really show anything that we don't already know. I liked the footage were they are playing the hidden tapes of Ali talking to his daughter and the interviews with Tyson and Jim Brown but most of the information is things that we have heard time and time again about the legend. I was also hoping to see some footage of Ali nowadays but the director chose to stick with old footage. We all know that he was one of the greatest fighters of all time and that he didn't shy away from speaking his mind so I didn't really see the point of this documentary. It was more of a movie about him as a devoting father and how much he cared about family, even though he couldn't help playing away from home. All of the boxing footage was OK but, once again, it isn't anything that we haven't seen before. In all, it's good that they are paying respect to a man who is suffering with Parkinson's decease and has achieved so much in his life but the documentary isn't anything new. Watchable!   Round-Up: This film really does show that Ali was a number one entertainer and that he cared a lot about his family and fans. The story about the sick kid who was dying from cancer was touching and when he let one of his fans stay in his house, it really did show that he has a loving heart. It was also good to see how he treated his family, especially his brother and his daughter when she was young but I still didn't learn anything new about the man himself. I honestly feel that the movie Ali, was more of a deep insight about the man and the people around him. Don't get me wrong, it is a watchable film and I'm sure that a lot of boxing fans, or fans of Ali, will enjoy the film but I honestly thing that there was more to the man that what the public already know. It doesn't really touch on his various relationships or how he treated his women but when you think about the amount of children he has, which is 9, he obviously was a ladies man. At 73, he is still classed as the best boxer of all time, close to Tyson in his prime, but it's sad to see him loose his sharp wit and supreme boxing skills, to a illness which must be hard to live with.I recommend this movie to people who are into their boxing documentaries about the boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, and his devoting love for his kids and his family. 4/10

First of all if you decide to watch this documentary, don't expect to see lots of action and/or lots of footage from the dozens of fights from the legend known as ''Muhammed Ali''That being said, what can you expect? Well......lots of dialog about the former heavyweight champion, coming from a lot of people who were either very close to him or had a lot of influence on him, his life or his career for example from his ex wife, his children and even his former boxing rival ''George Forman''. There were samples from audio tapes which he himself recorded from telephone conversations he had with his at the time young daughters scattered all over this documentary. There were moments when the documentary was on the edge of losing its momentum, but fortunately every time that started to happen it immediately picked up its speed again by showing us an old clip from an interview with the fighter which were easily the best parts in the documentary. Simply because of the overly charismatic manner and cockiness in which he presents himself as he is OBVIOUSLY known for. They do address a couple of fights from his career that had a huge influence on the boxing history.With those things in mind its easy to say that you can prepare yourself for a very personal and intimate experience about the boxer's life. Everything this documentary is trying to accomplish it succeeds in every way if you ask me. Its quite admirable to see and learn about all the people this man has inspired and still continues to inspire to this day in his life and how much love this man has for life itself.