DVD Review: Tyson: Mike Tyson, James Toback: Movies & TV
DVD Review: Tyson: Mike Tyson, James Toback: Movies & TV
Amazon.com
In his younger days, the former heavyweight champ liked to say, “No one really knows Mike Tyson.” Director James Toback, who befriended him while making 1999’s Black and White, allows Tyson to speak for himself as he illustrates his words through archival footage and fight clips, culminating in a subjective portrait that begins in empathy before ending somewhere more enigmatic. Neglected as a child, the Brooklyn-born youth took solace in his pigeons–much like Marlon Brando’s boxer in On the Waterfront–before turning to stealing and brawling in his teens until legendary trainer Cus D’Amato spotted his talent and helped him to develop the discipline and self-confidence he lacked. Tyson fought many of his most famous bouts after D’Amatos death, but never quite recovered from the loss. Toback tracks the fighter’s rise in the 1980s, followed by his fall in the ’90s and ‘00s: the turbulent marriage to actress Robin Givens, the infamous ear-biting incident, and the notorious rape conviction (about which he maintains his innocence). The filmmaker captures his now-retired subject in a reflective mood, and Tyson comes across as considerably more humble and eloquent than his reputation suggests–he describes boxing impresario Don King as “wretched, reptilian, and slimy” and has a special fondness for the word “skullduggery”–but continues to battle loneliness and feelings of abandonment, even fighting back a few tears at times. Tyson may disappoint those looking for the trash-talking pugilist of old, but Toback proves there’s more to Iron Mike than meets the eye. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Tyson (Click for larger image)
Amazing!,
By Sean Mercutio (Brooklyn, NY USA) -
This review is from: Tyson [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
I was fortunate to attend an early screening of this film. This movie is incredible. If you ever had any opinion of Mike Tyson, this movie will change it- good or bad. He talks about every single aspect of his life and there is nothing from his amazing or disturbing past that goes untouched…
The Tragedy of Mike Tyson,
By R. Sohi -
This review is from: Tyson [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
James Toback, the director of “Tyson,” has commented in interviews promoting this film that he sees Mike Tyson as “a classically tragic figure.” The story, as presented here, of how he transformed himself from a lispy voiced overweight kid, who was regularly bullied while growing up in one of the toughest neighbourhoods in America, to a fighter, who at his peak was among the most dominant heavyweight champions ever, to the middle-aged man shown as he is today, his face wrinkled and his belly soft, his fortunes squandered, and his sense of self publicly shamed innumerable times for various outrageous acts both in and out of the ring, is a tragedy in it’s truest sense.
Toback has been friends with the former heavyweight champion for several years and it shows as Tyson unguardedly reveals to the camera the damaged contradictive person that exists behind the popular image of his being merely some kind of brutal animal. Other than the numerous segments of archival television footage showing Tyson in the ring, in interviews or being followed in public, Toback’s documentary zeroes in on its subject and leaves Tyson the only person to appear on screen, his voice the only one that is heard. Sometimes he is shown in split screen with snippets of his monologue looped to repeat or overlapped to form a sound collage, presumably to evoke the confusion in his obviously tortured mind, as he recounts the various losses he has suffered, the way he sees the scales of justice always balanced against him. The result is claustrophobic.
Like any tragedy this is not an easy story to watch. At times it feels like you are looking at the wreckage from a violent road accident: once you start looking at it you want to look away but can’t. Anne Carson suggests in her preface to Euripedes’ classical Greek tragedy, “Herakles” (a play those who are interested in Tyson should read), that watching stories of other people who are lost in their grief and rage is beneficial for us. It helps to cleanse us of our darkness. If you believe that, you owe it to yourself to seek out this film.
Well done and what I was hoping for,
By WDB (Vancouver, WA) -
This review is from: Tyson [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
I’ve seen tons of shows on Mike Tyson and am actually a big Tyson fan and I was hoping that this film would pay justice to such an intriguing story. This film is very well done and captures all of what is Mike Tyson and in many ways that Mike Tyson documentaries in the past have failed to do. While there is plenty of great footage of all of his fights and knockouts, training and of archive footage outside the ring too, a lot of the film is of Mike himself telling his story beginning from the time of his youth.
You can tell that Mike must have been very comfortable with the film makers because his story is told in such a raw and emotional fashion. It seems like it must have been just a “very good day” for him to tell his story so well. Humble and honest, Mike guides us through the different periods and events of his life and gives vivid and raw insights into his thoughts and feelings about them and about how he was feeling at the time.
It really was a very interesting story and my wife who previously didn’t like him at all and every time there was something about Mike Tyson on tv she would always say “There’s that big jerk, what a low life. Turn this off!” was just fascinated by the film and you could tell that she really started to like Tyson after she got the chance to see what he was actually like and not as just the circus act that the media portrays him as sometimes.
Like I said, the film is also really well done which is so important to the entertainment value of any documentary or film for that matter whereas no matter how interesting the story, if the film is done poorly it’s really not that fun to watch. This film is highly recommended whether you’re a Tyson fan or not.
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