(rated PG-13, 150 mins.) This biography of the sports legend heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali (Will Smith) opens and continues with a roaring Motown soundtrack through the decade that spanned Ali’s career beginning in 1964 to his infamous Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman in ’74. Sounding like an often babbling “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” comedian with enough energy to take on the world, Cassius Clay style, Ali bonds with friends Malcolm X (Mario Van Pebbles) and Martin Luther King (LeVar Burton) both igniting and mirroring the conflicts of his time. His political views had him challenging the law, the status quo and the war-as well by draft dodging, with fists ready to rumble. Will Smith worked hard at this and it shows. Oscar nod is without say, but it’s Jon Voight as dry monotone delivered Howard Cosell and Jamie Foxx as “Bundini” his trainer that are champs right up there with him. By the movie’s end you’ll have tension in your shoulders and your own set of tight abs from all the movie’s surprise knock-out jabs both in the ring and out.
