Region:
One
Genre:
Drama
Stars:
Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffery
Wright, and Mykelti Williamson
Writers:
Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Eric Roth, and Michael Mann
Based
On A Story By: Gregory Allen Howard
Director:
Michael Mann
Feature
length: 157 minutes
Extras:
Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2001/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Michael
Mann is among the best visually stylistic filmmakers working today with films as
diverse as “The Insider,” “Heat,” “The Last Of The Mohicans,” and
“Manhunter.” His latest film “Ali” earned two Academy Award®
nominations for Will Smith in the Best Actor category and Jon Voight in the Best
Supporting Actor category. Focusing
on Ali’s career from 1964 to 1974, the film was shot on location around the
world with a stellar cast of actors like Joe Morton, Giancarlo Esposito, Levar
Burton, Ted Levine, and Jada Pinkett in addition to the actors who got billing
on the one-sheet. Will Smith does a great job as “Ali” and surprisingly
enough I was even able to suspend my disbelief enough to buy Jon Voight as
Howard Cosell though I still think the makeup makes him look more like a
character from “Dick Tracy” than the famous sports journalist.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment is releasing a straightforward DVD edition of
“Ali” with the priorities where the count the most. “Ali” is presented
in an anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) aspect ratio down converted from a high
definition transfer. As one would expect, the transfer is excellent with no
imperfections at all whatsoever. A vibrant English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound mix supports the transfer. The 5.1 channels make use of all the speakers
to deliver a true theatrical quality sound experience at home. A French Language
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also included along with English
Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded
on to the dual layered DVD as options.
There
are three (1.85:1) trailers included with full English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtracks, which include theatrical previews for “Ali,”
“Spiderman,” and a teaser trailer for “Men In Black II.” The main menu
is subtly animated while the subsequent menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate. There is an insert with liner notes within the
DVD keep case.
Though
light on features, “Ali” looks and sounds great on DVD and as far as I’m
concerned that is the most important thing since all the extra features in the
world could not hide poor sound and video quality. “Ali” debuts on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, April 30, 2002 from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and is
definitely worth checking out.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.