Big George Foreman Goes The Distance

This evening I went to the AMC Theatre opposite Boston Common to see Big George Foreman.

I had wondered if a film could be grand enough to capture George Foreman's life. Fair or not, the boxing film genre has been a staple of American cinema for nearly half a century largely thanks to the Rocky and now Creed franchises not to mention the Jake LaMotta biopic Raging Bull starring Robert DeNiro and Ali with Will Smith. 

Yet Foreman's life is an epic story - movie or no movie. I remember his comeback vividly. When he first came back in 1987, Foreman was ceaselessly derided and mocked for having the temerity to climb back in the ring. But by the time he fought Evander Holyfield in 1991, Foreman had gained more than grudging respect. While Foreman lost by unanimous decision, he held his own and stood in his corner between rounds. That would have been good enough on its own, but to knock out Michael Moorer more than three years later to regain boxing's world heavyweight championship at the age of 46 more than 20 years after he lost it is otherworldly. If one had written such a script before Foreman actually accomplished the feat would have got one laughed out of the theatre for life. 

As for the theatre this evening, there were fewer than half a dozen people in it. For me, the more space the better but it isn't much of a business model for a film much less a theatre chain. Notwithstanding these conditions, Big George Foreman goes the distance and does so primarily on the shoulders of Khris Davis. Like DeNiro, Davis both gained and lost 50 pounds to play Foreman at various stages of his life. Davis also captures the subtlety of Foreman's voice as he goes from angry young man to affable middle aged pitch man. It also doesn't hurt to stand shoulder to shoulder with Forest Whitaker who played Foreman's trainer Doc Broadus. 

Despite going the distance, Big George Foreman lost a couple of rounds by casting Sullivan Jones and Matthew Glave as Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell, respectively. They were caricatures. I think there was also a missed opportunity to deploy Ali other than the man who had beat Foreman in Zaire in 1974. When Foreman first came back in 1987, it was just over five years after Ali had last stepped in the ring and the effects of Parkinson's had taken their toll. A scene with Ali in that condition would have given younger audiences a better sense of what Foreman was up against. 

Nevertheless, George Foreman's life in the ring, out of it and then back in is a story well worth telling. As such I hope audiences will get ringside seats to see Big George Foreman.