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Ali (2001)
Ali (2001) poster

Ali (2001)

Drama • 2h 37m

Director: Michael Mann

Cast: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright, Mykelti Williamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Michael Michele, Joe Morton, Paul Rodríguez, Bruce McGill, Barry Shabaka Henley, Giancarlo Esposito, Laurence Mason, LeVar Burton, Albert Hall, David Cubitt, Ted Levine, Candy Ann Brown, David Elliott, Shari Watson, Malick Bowens, Michael Bentt, James Toney, Alfred Cole, Charles Shufford, Rufus Dorsey, Robert Sale, Vince Cooke, Damien 'Bolo' Wills, David Haines, Victoria Dillard, Brad Greenquist, Morgana Van Peebles, Maya Van Peebles, Maestro Harrell, William Utay, Kim Robillard, David Purdham, Gailard Sartain, Wade Williams, Guy Van Swearingen, Doug Hale, LaDonna Tittle, Marc Grapey, Herb Mitchell, Eddie Bo Smith Jr., Bobby Stuart, Patrick New, Ron O.J. Parson, Ellis Williams, Alexandra Bokyun Chun, John Gleeson Connolly, Warner Saunders, Jack Reiss, Marty Denkin, Tamara Lynch, Chico Benymon, Bill Plaschke, Steve Springer, Patrick M. Connolly, Patrick C. Russell, Robert Byrd, Cedric Wills, Ronald A. DiNicola, Moses Hollins, Daniel E. Gurevitz, Steven Randazzo, Ray Bokhour, Leonard Termo, Johnny Ortiz, Mark Salem, Sheldon Fogel, Jim Gray, Melvin Thomas, Natalie Carter, Reginald Footman, Poe Poe, Mel Dick, Kim Taylor-Coleman, Christian Stolte, Vic Manni, Will Gill Jr., Sylvaine Strike, Denis Luposo, Sharon Wilkinson, Carol Hatchett, Judith Mwale, Keabetswe Motsilanyane, Richard Katanga, Thomas Kariuki Matheri, Larry Hazzard Sr., Derrick Brown, Rommel Hyacinth, Graham Hopkins, Daniel Janks, Bradford E. Lang, Michael Dorn, Dan Robbertse, Graham Clarke, Dimitri Cassar, Frank Notaro, Mark Mulder, David W. Hess, Henrikennyo Mukenyi, Nathaniel Malekane, Millard Arnold, Edda Collier, Yi Lu Wei, Lee Cummings, Zaa Nkweta, Themba Gasa, Andrew P. Jones, Marc Kulazite Mboli, Cimanga Kalambay, Jean Bikoi, James Gilbert, Carolina Lancaster, Ron Madoff

Best English-friendly release

Theatrical: Universum Film Germany Blu-ray 2004 Director's Cut: Sony Director's Cut DVD 2017 Director's Cut: Sony Blu-ray

Updated 10 months ago

Best video release

Theatrical: Universum Film Germany Blu-ray (caveat: not entirely English friendly, R1 DVD for a more English friendly release)
2004 Director's Cut: Sony Director's Cut DVD
2017 Director's Cut: Sony Blu-ray


Best audio release

Theatrical: The UK DVD

Theatrical: The UK DVD has a DTS 5.1 track

Additional info

The Sony Blu-ray is missing the commentary from the DC DVD

Michael Mann changed it so much for the new cut that it no longer lined up.


About the film

In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.

More from Michael Mann

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Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · thedigitalbits.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and is better than Criterion, see caps https://slow.pics/c/Z2RRQAAT

Criterion 4K Blu-ray vs Blu-ray: caps colors are more different and nuanced than anticipated even in the SDR-converted caps and the usual gain in highlight detail is also apparent. Encode looks excellent except for the brightest areas as usual.

Best Audio:

5.1/5.0 mix (essentially a 4-track mix in 5.1 and 5.0 containers respectively)-Arrow/Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Only imperceptible differences in bit-depth: 20 vs 24. 

2.0 mix- Arrow 4K Blu-ray (original stereo)

Additional Info:

Arrow and Criterion 4K Blu-rays have differing extras 

Criterion has FEL Dolby Vision, Arrow has MEL

Arrow Limited Edition includes the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray from an older HD master, most likely from a 2K scan of an interpositive.

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly:

88 Films UK Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray  in December

Best Video:

88 Films UK Blu-ray for both cuts 

Best Audio:

88 Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

88 Films Blu-ray is missing Michael Mann commentary for the DC found on other BDs

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration

Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray

Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration

Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.

Best Audio:

LaserDisc 2.0 (restores censored dialog). Comparison of 5.1 mixes
For the 5.1: LaserDisc AC3 vs US DVD AC3 vs Japan DVD DTS

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Netherlands Remain in Light or UK Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Netherlands Remain in Light or UK Universal 4K Blu-ray, See caps: Ferrari (2023) | Slowpoke Pics

Best Audio:

Netherlands Remain in Light

Additional Info:

All three discs come from the same master and share the same Dolby Vision grade, with identical dynamic metadata and CMv4.0 on all three. The Eagle Pictures disc is the only Profile 7 FEL, the Remain in Light and Universal UK discs are both MEL. On paper that gives the Italian finer coding precision, but it doesn't buy anything on this film, the grain is heavy enough to hide base layer quantisation on its own and none of the three discs bands. It also costs something, the Eagle Pictures encode noticeably smooths grain in flatter, low contrast areas, so a fair bit of fine texture that both other discs keep is simply gone. Edges and overall definition are fine, but the Dutch and UK discs clearly hold the film's texture better and are the ones to get. Between those two it's very close, with the Dutch keeping slightly more grain across most of the scenes checked. Worth noting as well, the Dutch and UK discs have their title cards in English while the Italian keeps them in Italian.
Caps comp: Ferrari (2023) | Slowpoke Pics

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical/Director's Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Hybrid Theatrical Cut: Anchor Bay "Theatrical" DVD
Final Cut: upcoming UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

UK StudioCanal Final Cut 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Mann

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

OOP KL Blu-ray

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount/Plaion Spain/Italy 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Paramount/Plaion Spain/Italy 4K Blu-ray has better encoding than the US 4K Blu-ray.

Best Audio:

Paramount US 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The EUR 4K has missing dialog.

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray has the same audio as Vinegar Syndrome

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly:

Disney Blu-ray

Best Video:

More from Sony

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Director: Frank Oz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Roland Emmerich

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: David Lean

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

Director: Satoshi Kon

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Sony 4K Blu-ray is very smeary with the upscaling but has correct aspect ratio and very good HDR grade.
UK Blu-ray has wrong colors, and Sony 2007 Blu-ray is the worst (encoding and AR)
See professorwho's review

Director: Ben Stiller

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Comparisons

Audio Notes:

Spectrograms

Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.

  • StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.

  • 2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.

  • 2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps

Audio Notes:

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.

Director: Frank Capra

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Frank Capra Boxset Blu-ray

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Robert Altman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.

YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379

Video Notes:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

MGM Blu-ray

Director: Steve Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56

Best Audio:

Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD

Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)

Audio Notes:

Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)

Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD

Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)

Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.

Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.

Additional Info:

Arrow has a much better translation.

Arrow LE has the Taiwan Extended Cut which will not be present on the standard edition. However, Imprint is FiM and has its own archival extras not present on the Arrow.

Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Vincent Sherman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

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Researched and maintained by

tyyuxvanshady

· last reviewed 10 months ago

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