Grade: B+

Verdict: No knockout but definitely a TKO. Will Smith is marvelous.

Details: Starring Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Michael Michele, Mario Van Peebles, Giancarlo Esposito, Mykelti Williamson, Ron Silver and Jeffrey Wright. Directed by Michael Mann. Rated R for some language and brief violence. Two hours 37 minutes.

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Review: Unlike the Champ himself, "Ali" isn't the greatest. But it's still very good and definitely worth seeing, if only to be reminded of the extraordinary life of one of the most extraordinary figures of the last half of the 20th century.

If Muhammad Ali hadn't existed, someone would have had to invent him. Only it's hard to believe that anyone could be that inventive.

Ali was. He invented himself. Born into a segregated world of lynchings and seats in the back of the bus, Ali (played with skill and commitment by Will Smith), internalized what he saw and turned it around. Walking a thin line between rascally impudence and threatening belligerence, he truly did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee when dealing with a white world.

Michael Mann's movie is, in many ways, your typical greatest-hits biography. A lot is left out, but a lot is in there, too. Malcolm X and Howard Cosell. The Nation of Islam and the CIA. The less-than-perfect relationships with women. The near-perfect rounds in the ring.

The movie covers 10 years in Ali's life, beginning in 1964 when a cocky 22-year-old named Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title of the world. It finishes in 1974 when Ali reclaims the title from George Foreman in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire.

Ending with the thrill of victory instead of the poignance of Parkinson's disease is a good decision. But it does cripple the film's dramatic structure. Trying to provide a punched-up ending for what is basically a midcareer saga, Mann infuses the Foreman fight with symbolism and mythic overtones that are nice enough but, frankly, slow the film down.

We lose an important aspect of Ali. In reality, he jogged and joked with the native kids, who, like everyone else in Zaire, worshipped him. But Mann takes that worship in a different direction so that Smith runs with an "I have a dream" fervor burning in his eyes.

What the movie does best is show us Ali in all his considerable glory. He is his own man--"the people's champ," as he tells the press. "But I ain't gonna be the champ you want me to be; I'm gonna be the champ the way I want to be."

The fights are impressive, but non-boxing fans may think they go on forever. Oddly, the movie is at its warmest and most involving when Ali and newscaster Cosell (a tremendous impersonation by Jon Voight) spar on national TV. In a sense, Cosell was Ali's corner man in the media. He became a conduit for Ali to air his views as well as a great straight man for the champ's punch lines.

Cosell: "It's well-known that George Foreman can knock a man out with either hand."

Ali: "Howard, I can lift your wig up with either hand."

Everybody in the cast works hard and well, from Ali's entourage of pals (Jamie Foxx is a standout) to his entourage of wives (including Smith's real wife, Jada Pinkett Smith).

Still, in the end it all comes down to Will Smith. While the movie as a whole may not have all the impact one would wish, his performance has so much that you cut the film some slack. You probably know about the harsh training regimen that added 30 pounds of muscle to Smith's slender body. The arduous work shows. According to people who know about such things, Smith throws a mean punch. And his grasp of Ali's vocal patterns is impressive.

"When We Were Kings," a sensational documentary about the Foreman fight, does a better job of giving us the essence of Ali. But it had an advantage: Ali is right there on the screen. And as fine as Will Smith is, we all know one thing: There is only one Muhammad Ali.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)