A One Mann’s Movies review of “Big George Foreman” (2023).
(The full title is “Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story Of The Once And Future Heavyweight Champion Of The World”, but who on earth can be bothered with that!)
“Big George Foreman” is a biopic on the remarkable true story of the boxing champ George Foreman. And it really is an incredible tale. Being of a certain age, I was obviously aware of the man, his famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ with Mohammed Ali and his later business success with a grill! But I went into this without being able to recall any of the details, which was a good way to watch it!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
George Foreman (Khris Davis) is born into a life of extreme poverty in the roughest neighbourhood of Houston, Texas. A remedial student at school, he is only good with his fists. And given his quick temper this lands him in regular trouble. But when he takes an opportunity at a government ‘Jobs Corp’ camp to learn new skills, he is taken under the wing of boxing trainer Doc Broadus (Forest Whitaker) who immediately sees his potential.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC: “Moderate violence, bloody images).
Talent:
Starring: Khris Davis, Forest Whitaker, Jasmine Mathews, Sullivan Jones, John Magaro, Shein Mompremier.
Directed by: George Tillman Jr.
Written by: Frank Baldwin & George Tillman Jr. (Story by Dan Gordon, Frank Baldwin & George Tillman Jr.).
Twitter Handle: #ForemanMovie.
Rumbling in the Jungle. Foreman (Khris Davis) takes on Mohammed Ali (a very good impression by Sullivan Jones) (Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment)
“Big George Foreman” Review:
Positives:
- The star of the show here is the story which – as the rediculously huge version of the title suggests – is truly miraculous. If this was a fictional film – “Creed 4”, say – I’d probably be creating a bullet in my “Negatives” section saying something like “Ludicrously unrealistic story”! But, and particularly since the film has George Foreman himself as an executive producer, this is presumably almost 100% accurate.
- Khris Davis, who was impressive in the very good “Judas and the Black Messiah” does a knock-out job portraying George Foreman through the ages (well, through most ages… he is portrayed by ‘Kei’ as a kid and Austin David Jones as a teen). At one point we skip ahead 7 years in the story, and I thought they must have switched actor again…. but no, it is Khris Davis still, with a shaved head and some very good prosthetics.
- I also thought Shein Mompremier was very good as Foreman’s first wife Paula. For their first meeting at an airport, the 80’s vibe was in full swing! I expected the very eye-catching Ms Mompremier’s first line to be “I’m Foxy Cleopatra”!
Negatives:
- It’s a very SOLID biopic. But there’s no real pizzazz to it. Compare and contrast the boxing scenes here with those in the recent “Creed III“. Yes, there’s the same visceral punching and blood spitting action. But in terms of stylised shooting, this movie is at a 5 compared to Creed’s 9. Think of that scene in Creed where the watching crowd disappeared (“they were the only two people in the world”, to quote THIS film!), the colour washed out, the cage bars came down and we had a wonderful stylised sequence. There is none of that sort of style in the telling here. Aside from the strong opener (Black screen and voiceover “I was 28 years old when I died”) the timeline is completely linear. All in all, the movie is very ‘straight up’.
- At nearly 130 minutes, the film outstayed its welcome for me by about 15 minutes.
- I found the accent of Jasmine Matthews, playing Foreman’s second wife Mary Joan, really odd and distracting. It seemed to be some strange Irish/Caribbean crossover! I’m not sure what her natural speaking voice is like or whether this was an attempt to put on a particular accent (that failed!).
- It’s frustratingly light on the ‘George Foreman Grill’ – – I wanted to know how the “Lean Mean Grilling Machine” deal came to pass and how and why it was successful!
Summary Thoughts on “Big George Foreman”
I don’t normally read or listen to other critics views before I write my own review to avoide being influenced. I write my thoughts and sometimes we agree and sometimes I am in violent disagreement with them. But in a moment of weakness, I DID actually listed to the review of this one by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo in their “Take” podcast. And now I have the summary of the good Doctor Kermode in my ears. He described this film as “an unremarkable telling of a remarkable story“. And I really can’t beat that as a summary for the movie. It’s spot on.
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Trailer for “Big George Foreman”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urKDu40iaXk.
