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Friday
12Jun2009

Movie Review - 'Tyson'

DateFriday, June 12, 2009 at 1:14AM
Tyson

Featuring Mike Tyson
Directed by James Toback
Rated R

tysonposter.jpg Director James Toback makes what might seem like a controversial decision: He lets Mike Tyson tell his own story.

Rather than interview business associates, ex-wives, boxing opponents, and friends, Toback's new documentary Tyson is a 90-minute monologue, Mike Tyson justifying and condemning himself and others in his life interspersed with archival footage that show a scared kid, a promising young fighter, a ferocious animal, and a fat family man seemingly at peace with himself.

We know the headlines of his life. Mike Tyson is the youngest heavyweight champion in history. He was once the most feared fighter of his generation. After a bitter divorce from actress Robin Givens, Tyson lost to a journeyman named Buster Douglas and was convicted of rape. And that was truly what pushed Tyson back down the mountain, even though he would later win two more world titles following his release from prison.

His post-prison career is marked more by biting Evander Holyfield's ear than any success he actually found in the ring, and after those embarrassing moments, Tyson struggled to keep his business affairs in order (which happens to a lot of guys who work with promoter Don King), so Tyson barnstormed a bunch of lower profile fights just to get paid.

But there aren't many fighters who have captivated the American consciousness the way Tyson has. His story is obviously less inspiring than that of Muhammad Ali, but there is no doubt that no matter what Iron Mike has done, people have watched it for more than 20 years.

In Toback's film, Tyson comes across as a man-child. Outside of a couple foul words aimed at King and his accuser in the rape case, Tyson blames everything that's happened in his life on himself. He appears contrite for many of the things he's done, regretful that his marriage to Robin Givens was such a disaster, and he is definitely tired of fighting. That's not limited to a boxing ring, either.

The one moment that truly resonates with Tyson in this documentary comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed his tumultuous career. When his trainer Cus D'Amato died in 1985, Tyson lost the centering factor in his life. Rather than having someone with business acumen and street smarts look after his interests and rather than having someone who genuinely cared for him around him on a daily basis, Tyson was a cash cow, and he made too many bad mistakes trusting people he shouldn't have.

The influence D'Amato had on his life and the profound impact of that loss is still there, not far beneath the surface.

Tyson is a revealing portrait of a surprisingly complicated guy. Of course, he brought most of those complications on himself. But this movie works as a sports film, as a psychological study, and as a biography of a man everybody knows, but only to a point.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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