Big George Foreman (2023) Movie Review

ig George Foreman became world champion in 1973, at the age of 24. Four years later he retired and dedicated his life to God, renouncing everything related to fame and boxing.

Despite retiring with significant wealth, some bad judgements and bad people left him financially broke. In order to keep himself and his projects alive – like a sports youth center – he made one of the most unbelievable decisions in sports history. He made a succesfull boxing comeback at the age where most are already 10 years into retirement. And he became world champion – again – at the steretoype-shattering age of 45.

The`Big George Foreman` movie has a lot of time jumps and each moment represents a key moment in George Foreman’s life. It has a lot to cover so the movie is very fast, and maybe a little too descriptive. Meaning it’s a straightforward telling of the story, sometimes gentle and restrained compared to the real story. Khris Davis did a great job in the main role but the story is told mostly from outside of George’s head. There isn’t a lot of insight into his thoughts and emotions. 

To an audience unfamiliar with George Foreman, the character may seem all over the place: a street mugger and shortly after, a  person who knows the value of studying. Then he’s rich and enjoys cars and luxury. Then he’s not, and devotes his life to Christianity. A boxing world champion – twice – without his invincibility in the ring ever explained. His mother describes him as if he’s constantly street-fighting, but he doesn’t really do that in the movie.

I wish they would have found a way to show more of George’s thoughts and feelings. It would reveal cool stuff like the fact that George kept a shaved head because he saw the beard and hair as him trying to be something he is not. Or the fact that the scene under the house was a life-changing moment, that’s why he wanted to study and make something of himself; he got scared out of the street life. Or the fact that his strategy for winning fights was to close his eyes and punch as hard as he could. And that seemed to work. 

Sure, the real George Foreman has a lot of humor when telling the stories, but showing more of the internal monologue could have created a more seamless narrative experience for a general audience.

If you are a George Foreman fan or just a fan of the golden era of heavyweight boxing, this is an entertaining movie with some Easter eggs from that era. Like the sharp and scary-accurate portrayal of Muhammad Ali by actor Sullivan Jones.

The movie asks the audience to fill in some blanks or leave without knowing the true significance of some scenes. And overall, it’s not a life changing movie but a movie about big life changes.

Further reading:

Foreman, G. (1995). By George: The Autobiography of George Foreman