Midway through The Greatest, Prime Video’s compelling eight-episode series about boxing legend Muhammad Ali, we see the champ not at his highest point, but at what very well may have been his lowest. Known at the time as Cassius Clay, a name he later changed to the one he’s now known by, he’s been nearly knocked out in a fight and his team is struggling to get him to understand where he is, let alone back out into the ring. It’s at this moment when the episode shifts to become a black-and-white, almost dreamlike experience where the boxer is transported to somewhere far away. It’s not the first time the show does this, but it’s the most impactful, showing a young man trying to find his way back to himself and the fight that is his life. Not only does it conjure up a deeper emotional feeling, but it injects The Greatest with a visual flair befitting its larger-than-life subject.
It’s a scene that’s also a great summation of the series’ strengths. On the top level, it’s striking to watch, offering more visual invention than the standard-issue boxing biopic where subjects wail away at each other with little else to it. But just as important is that the scene attempts to cut deeper into who Ali himself may have been. We see him as showman, incredible athlete, and a man with a complicated past. That this all comes to Ali via gracefully captured, ghostlike apparitions in this moment makes clear that The Greatest, while still very much about boxing, also concerns the forces of history, faith, family, and politics surrounding the sporting spectacle. Not only does the series set itself apart from other terrific dramatizations of this extraordinary life—namely films like Michael Mann’s Ali and Regina King’s One Night In Miami—but it also introduces a great new star in Jaalen Best.
Playing Ali from his gold medal win at the 1960 Summer Olympics through his first fight against undisputed heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964, Best doesn’t attempt to just mirror other actors’ portrayals or merely impersonate the boxer’s mannerisms. He’s more than able to embody Ali’s charisma and presence inside and outside of the ring, and he also captures a youthful uncertainty within the man. This is initially Ali before he has become the joyously braggadocious shit-talker who knew exactly how to play the crowd and get them watching. Indeed, the most engaging parts of The Greatest’s early episodes display his vulnerability and earnestness amid his growing confidence. This comes in several small, sweet little moments—like when Ali is woefully awkward in attempting to ask out a crush who’s clearly interested— and bigger ones in which he tries to stay true to himself in a world where everyone seemingly wants a piece of him.
Because from the moment he returns to his hometown of Louisville, KY an Olympic champion, the vultures are already circling. During a celebration thrown in his honor, they’re not even willing to hide their desire to make money off of Ali. The Greatest finds him navigating this fraught state of affairs alongside his mother Odessa (Dana Gourrier), his father Cash (Omari Hardwick), and younger brother Rudy (Kai Parham); much of the series is focused on on these experiences and how they shaped him into arguably the most famous person in the world. The Ali estate’s participation in The Greatest could invite some skepticism over what made it to the screen, but showrunner Ben Watkins doesn’t shy away from the pain that these years inflicted on Ali; there’s a particular emphasis on how Cash, while an artist in his own right, was also a deeply flawed man. There was only so much that Ali could fix by landing the right series of punches. No, he’ll have much bigger fights outside the ring.
With that being said, while the show doesn’t dodge these emotional blows, it’s also just a solid sports drama; just when the energy seems to be flagging, Best jolts The Greatest back to life. He has to contend with some stiff portrayals of other historical figures and a handful of creaky narrative developments, but when Best is given the room to work, it’s easy to buy into every moment of it. The final episode sweeps us up in the spectacle that Ali was able to float above precisely because of the emotional and cinematic heft that the series brings to staging it. Directed by the great A.V. Rockwell, who previously made the underseen, deeply felt film A Thousand And One, it’s a thrilling closer that brings the journey home perfectly. Just seeing the light in Best’s eye as he charges out into the ring one last time is a joy to behold, with the scene’s playful soundtrack going from surprising to ultimately fitting. In this closing moment, we not only see why Ali was and will likely always remain the greatest in the ring—we feel it, too.
The Greatest premieres November 4 on Prime Video.
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