The press conclude that Ali tells us nothing new
The Daily Telegraph
Ali is ponderous and episodic. You spend a lot of time waiting for the magic of the man to come together, but it never really does and the overall effect is much more brooding than it ought to be. Will Smith's performance is a rather superior effort, in some ways - he mimics Ali's voice well and he walks like him - but the script does not afford him the opportunity to engage fully with Ali's personality.
The Observer
Will Smith as Ali has the right body language and is uncannily accurate in the ring, where the fights are handled with an admirable neutrality, avoiding the easy disgust of Raging Bull and the absurdity of Rocky. But he doesn't look quite right, lacking Ali's round, mischievous cherub face, and although well-developed he hasn't got the beautiful body that made Ali so unlike recent heavyweights. Mario Van Peebles has his moment as Malcolm X, as does Ron Silver as Ali's manager, Angelo Dundee.
The Independent
But while Ali certainly throws some nifty combinations, it must be conceded that it's far from a knock-out. "Forget what you think you know," runs its curious tagline, the problem being that the film rehearses an awful lot of what we do know and rather skimps on what we'd like to know. Could this be to do with the script? No fewer than five names jostle for the credit - Mann and three co-writers (Stephen J Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson and Eric Roth) worked from a story by Gregory Allen Howard - which on a biopic feels somehow less reassuring than a coherent single vision.
The Times
In this film, Ali is depicted as so lordly and wise, so subtle and statesmanlike, he becomes almost invisible, not to mention bloody dull. At his best, Ali was an inspired clown, a born entertainer with integrity and bite. Here, either when dealing with the authorities, friends and family, or the Nation of Islam, he's too often presented as some kind of pensive all-knowing saint in long shorts.
The Guardian
And what, in the end, does the movie have to say that's new? We are covering very familiar ground, and Mann never comes close to answering Norman Mailer's all-important question: was Ali scared? What was the condition of his secret soul just before the terrifying Foreman contest, when many feared the much older Ali would be not just defeated but killed?
London Evening Standard
Michael Mann's overlengthy biopic of Mohammed Ali pulls its punches in everything to do with its subject's life outside the ropes. "Forget what you think you know," we're told in the teaser ads. By the end, though, we know little more than we did when the bell sounded. Not that this will deter boxing fans, a crude constituency, as long as the punches Will Smith throws land on target with championship accuracy. Mostly, they do.