Ali (R, 2001)

Will Smith stars in ALI as the title fighter. The movie covers the champ's personal and professional lives, including his conversion to Islam and his refusal to fight in Vietnam.

Will Smith delivers a knock-out punch as Muhammed Ali in this outstanding film that follows the champ from his first heavyweight title to the "Rumble in the Jungle" when he won the title again by defeating George Foreman in Zaire. Smith perfectly captures Ali's Kentucky drawl. Like his fighting style, it can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Director Michael Mann strikes just the right balance between the personal and the political, setting Ali's struggles in the context of the racial conflicts of his era but never losing sight of the fact that it is one man's story.

Even limited to only 10 years in Ali's life, the story spills out of the screen, with achingly brief glimpses of some of the key characters in Ali's life. This is a double loss, because these small roles are played by some of the most brilliant -- and under-used actors -- working today, including Jeffrey Wright as Ali's photographer, LeVar Burton glimpsed briefly as Martin Luther King, Joe Morton as Ali's lawyer, and Giancarlo Esposito as Ali's father. John Voight struggles under far too much rubber make-up but makes a fine impression as Howard Cosell, the sportscaster who was Ali's favorite straight man and one of his truest friends. Mario van Peebles is quietly magnetic as Malcolm X, and Ron Silver marshals his intensity just right as trainer Angelo Dundee. Mykelti Williamson is jubilantly entertaining as Don King.