WHEN WE WERE KINGS (1996), Dir. by Leon Gast

In the wrong hands, KINGS is a 90 minute podcast of Muhammad Ali monologues featuring special guest star George Foreman & co. Luckily, the movie as it exists is much more interesting than that; Ali is oddly elusive and mysterious to the “experts” covering his title bout with Foreman. In spite of telegramming his bravado with more fervour than a junior associate Wall Street finance bro with an Instagram account, all anyone can do is point and whisper about the inner workings of Ali’s mind. And here lies the summation of KINGS; the “Rumble in the Jungle” was a fraction of the fight. The true story lives where cameras can’t go, deep in the soul of the greatest boxer of all time.