Ali (Director's Cut) (DVD)

In 2001 Will Smith took on one of the hardest roles he could ever be asked to undertake as he played the most charismatic sports icons of all time, Muhammad Ali, and he passed the test with flying colors. The film not only awarded Will Smith with his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but it also added another nomination to Jon Voight's illustrious career as he played Howard Cosell.

Ali follows the life and times of Cassius Clay from his beginnings as a boxer up to the Rumble in the Jungle and here we have Michael Mann's special cut of the film including never-before-seen footage along with a commentary by Mann himself, but is it worth the buy, and is it anything better than the original?

I am all for director's cuts since if there is more to see of a great film then I want to see, but as with all director's cuts they don't really offer anything extra that you would really miss from the film except to tie up a couple of loose ends.

With that said, Ali is such a great movie I can only recommend you buy this version as you will certainly want to get as much of this movie as you can into your system. Will Smith brings Ali to life as I could never have anticipated, and with all of the footage of his interviews and fights I have seen I couldn't believe how well Smith captured Ali's charisma and personality in celebrating his life.

As for Mann's commentary it is more of an add on to the film and I found it to be more distracting than entertaining, since every time Will Smith was on screen I was more interested in hearing what he had to say as opposed to what Mann was saying. Mann guides you through the film adding bits of history, more than directorial insight, but there is something on this disc that makes up for that.

Along with this special edition, included is an excellent behind-the-scenes making-of featurette that goes inside the making of the film with all the actors involved as well as Mann, and it also shows you just how much went into the spectacular fight scenes that put any other boxing movie that I have seen to shame. Through the use of a tiny camera attached to the actor's heads you are given a look at boxing that you have never seen in a movie until now.

I whole-heartedly recommend you pick up this title as you will be moved in so many ways by the career performances turned in with this spectacular film.