In 1994, after 10 years of retirement and at the age of 45, George Foreman became the oldest man in the history of boxing to win the Heavyweight Championship title. Ultimately, he would retire with a record of 76-5, 68 of which were knockouts.

BIG GEORGE FOREMAN

Big George Foreman follows Geroge from 1960s Houston, Texas’s poverty-stricken Fifth Ward all the way to his triumphant return to greatness in 1994. If you were to watch a recent interview with George Foreman, you wouldn’t recognize the gentle, smiling behemoth as the rage-filled youth who used to mug people and who used anger to pummel his way to Olympic gold and then become one of the youngest Heavyweight Champs in the history of boxing. This movie shows us why.

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While there are several strong performances, particularly those given by Forest Whitaker, who plays the man who discovered and trained Foreman, Doc Broadus, this isn’t a film about performances. This is good because Davis, who plays Foreman, often suffers under the weight of a too-accurate impersonation of the boxing champ. You see, while the impersonation is excellent, Foreman’s rather placid persona doesn’t lend itself to the theatrics necessary to convey things like uncontrollable rage. Fortunately, once Foreman is washed clean in The Blood, the smiling and pleasant George Foreman that most of us know and love shines through.

Even though this is a boxing movie, the true star of the film is Jesus’s role in transforming Foreman’s life. Moreover, Foreman’s willingness to listen to God’s Will and the spiritual rewards that come with it is unarguably the most poignant and electrifying through-line of the film. However, none of this would have the impact that it does were it not for the historical drama that was Foreman’s rise to fame and fortune.

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That Big George Foreman is a good and entertaining movie, not despite its Christianity but largely because of it, is a testament unto itself. Whereas movies like Jesus Revolution, despite its surprising quality, mostly serve to entertain and uplift those who already believe, Big George Foreman can more easily touch the hearts of the nonbeliever because Jesus rope-a-dopes you throughout only to surprise you with a holy right cross in the second half.

You see, Big George Foreman is a really good boxing movie in which Jesus happens to play a key role. Any red-blooded man not suffering from low-T will be able to immediately identify with Foreman’s early struggles, especially those who know what it is to be truly hungry. Additionally, anyone who knows anything about Foreman’s boxing history will absolutely love watching the behind-the-scenes moments leading up to and especially after The Rumble in The Jungle.

Even so, in a 2h 13m movie, the lead-up to one of the most famous boxing matches could have been given more time to build. Instead, in its rush to get to Foreman’s conversion, there’s very little time given for the audience’s anticipation to build. Concordantly, Foreman’s tale is such a big one spanning so many decades that I suspect there is an extended edition lying on the editing room floor that would do even more justice to his story, and what we get in the theaters can sometimes feel rushed.

When the bell has rung, and the judges’ scores are tallied, Big George Foreman is a surprise knockout that fans of boxing and/or Jesus will love, and those who need Jesus in their lives should see. We are thrilled to mark it as Worth it.

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