Ali

"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."

2001 2h 37m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

69%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 1,936🍅69%Rotten Tomatoes●65Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 108,321

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.

“Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”

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Cast

Will Smith
Muhammad Ali / Cassius Clay
Jamie Foxx
Drew 'Bundini' Brown
Jon Voight
Howard Cosell
Mario Van Peebles
Malcolm X
Ron Silver
Angelo Dundee
Jeffrey Wright
Howard Bingham
Mykelti Williamson
Don King
Jada Pinkett Smith
Sonji Roi

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Mann
Writers: Christopher Wilkinson, Eric Roth, Michael Mann
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 157 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$107M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 82% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: United States of America, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

205+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Mann, shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Lisa Gerrard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Mann directs. Emmanuel Lubezki behind the camera. Lisa Gerrard scores. Stuart Waks cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 157 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$107M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Earned back only 82% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
425 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5International production across 4 countries: United States of America, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa.
6205+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
7Directed by Michael Mann, shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Lisa Gerrard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Stuart Waks shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Will Smith and Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.".
12IMDB entry: tt0248667 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 17 themes, including "transporter", "boxer", "affectation", "biography".

The technical file

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Original score: Lisa Gerrard
Editing: Stuart Waks
Production design: John Myhre
Costume design: Marlene Stewart
Makeup / hair: Carol Brown
VFX supervisor: Michael J. McAlister
Sound: Andy Nelson
Stunt coordinator: Joel Kramer
Runtime: 157 min · 2h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $107,000,000
Box office: $87,812,729
Return: 82% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Ali (2001)
Rotten Tomatoes: 69% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 65/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 108,321 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 10 wins & 27 nominations total

Also by

Michael Mann

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Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-01
★ 6/10
There are flashes of the legendary Muhammad Ali wit and quick-thinking delivery peppered throughout this otherwise rather long and ponderous story of the life of Cassius Clay from relative poverty through to his mastery of not just the boxing ring but of the television media that, at that point, fed successfully from this truly global sport. It's Will Smith who takes centre stage after his gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympiad in 1964 and like many other pugilists in history, his character offers the down-trodden, working class, an inspiration. With sweat, tears and hard work he can escape the ghetto and have his fame and fortune, so why not them? What Michael Mann now proceeds to do is offer us a biopic of this man - of his peccadilloes, his religious beliefs, his persecution by the government when he refuses to be drafted to Vietnam and of some of his friendships with the great and the good of the equal rights movement that were gaining in prominence and effectiveness under the likes of Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles). We are presented with a plausibly flawed individual, but one who is a proud and savvy man who knows just how to push the buttons to keeps his life-blood's publicity machine going. To that end, here, Smith is well supported by Jamie Foxx's "Bundini", the long-suffering Angelo Dundee (Ron Silver) and by Jon Voight as his follicularly challenged media foil from ABC television - Howard Cosell. It's Smith that rather underwhelms. He delivers the set-pieces well enough, presumably he could rehearse them - but the rest of his persona is all rather weak, undercooked and I felt really over-written. There's way too much melodrama and speculation and not enough of what made the man an household name (and favourite) in the first place - his fighting. For such a rich source this is all rather meandering and lacking in substance. Maybe we could have directors cut - only 45 minutes shorter?

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