Goliath (2023)

It’s easy to get hung up on the choice to recreate Chamberlain’s voice, but love that choice or hate it, Goliath is a first-rate piece of sports documentary filmmaking, one worthy of its titanic subject.

“Goliath” nevertheless manages to feel as big as its subject, shedding light on a figure who, misunderstood or not, seemed larger than life in every conceivable way.

Not that “Goliath” is all hagiography. The series spends a considerable amount of time examining Chamberlain’s frustration at his teams continually being bested by Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, which resulted in Wilt being labeled a perpetual “loser.” The filmmakers also address the dichotomy of Chamberlain having a famously lavish and hedonistic lifestyle, and supporting female athletes.

The delivery by Robot Chamberlain seemed stiff. The recurring shadow-puppet motif—to which the directors resort when their story lacks corresponding film footage—exacerbates the sense of artifice. It may be a case of knowing too much. Regardless, the flesh-and-blood humans who appear throughout "Goliath" are refreshinglsy candid, informative and likable, even if the lineup is a bit dubious.

“Goliath,” directed by Rob Ford and Christopher Dillon, is a more workmanlike and conventional project than “Luckiest Guy.” But across three episodes it makes a persuasive case for Chamberlain as a generous, sensitive soul who was both blessed and constrained by his stature and his extraordinary all-around athletic ability.

Goliath is satisfying enough as it goes, but maybe the legend of Wilt Chamberlain demanded that extra depth.

Goliath is watchable and occasionally fascinating, in that sports-documentary sort of way. But there are some issues. Goliath’s directors and editors appear to have taken all of the archival footage that appears in the movie from YouTube. .... Also lazy and uncanny: the decision to use AI to bring some of Wilt’s written words to “life” with a tone-deaf simulacrum of a dead man’s voice to narrate the proceedings.