by Jake Hjort, Contributing Writer
In a market overstuffed with biopics, it seems the only way to make one that stands above the rest is to either give it a unique structure, or to zoom in on a specific point in the subject’s life. Unfortunately, Big George Foreman fails to do either of these things. Instead, what is presented is one of the most uninspired, unfocused, paint-by-numbers biopics that I have ever seen. Now, there isn’t really anything egregiously wrong with the film — it’s a classic rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story that’s two parts boxing movie to one part faith parable — but it is bogged down by unending mediocrity. The performances are all fine, the score mostly goes by without notice, and the direction and cinematography are indistinguishable from any other drama or boxing film.
Without a doubt, the film’s biggest problem is the scope in which the writers chose to tackle. From start to finish, we witness roughly 30 years of George Foreman’s (Khris Davis) life, from his childhood in Houston, Texas, to the second run of his boxing career when he was in his 40s. By choosing to showcase such a large span of time, there’s a real struggle with focus. Characters pop in and out of the film without much introduction or farewell, and key parts of the journey aren’t allowed to breathe, as the story must move on to the next beat. Oftentimes years will pass between scenes, skipping past character development, and leaving behind jaggedly spliced arcs in the wake.
Foreman certainly led a very interesting life, but you need to have more than a good inspiration to make a solid feature-length film. Going into the cinema, all that I knew about his life was that he was a professional boxer with a line of portable electric grills, so I was ripe to learn some new information and to be surprised by any twists or turns. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to enjoy any such plot movements, as even with a complete lack of prior knowledge, I was able to foresee every turn Foreman’s life would take. Big moments are so painfully and obviously set up that they don’t give any room for tension. After an early training montage, Foreman’s coach (Forest Whitaker) tells him that he doesn’t have any chance to make it into the next Olympics. Instead of then continuing to show Foreman train and struggle to accomplish his dreams, the film cuts immediately to him in the gold medal match of the Olympics, a feat that you knew was inevitable after the coach’s comments moments before.
Ultimately, part of this struggle comes from how long and successful Foreman’s career was — he seldom lost matches and didn’t face much adversity in the ring, so it’s hard to find an antagonist or opponent for him to go up against. It seemed like this may be Muhammad Ali (Sullivan Jones) after the Rumble in the Jungle, but after their match in the middle of the film, Ali only appears in a couple more scenes. Rather, the writers opted to make the primary conflict Foreman’s lack of faith of God, an unintriguing decision which takes away a lot of Foreman’s agency. As it is presented, nothing that went wrong in Foreman’s life was the result of a personal failing or an outside force that could be overcome, but rather simply a symptom of not praying enough.
Big George Foreman is a biopic which fails to break out from the noise and make any meaningful impact. Although there is not enough wrong to stir up even feelings of dislike, I don’t feel as though I can recommend this to any but Foreman’s biggest fans.
Score: 5/10
Big George Foreman is currently playing in theaters
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