Release Date – 4/24/09 (limited)
Mike Tyson is arguably the most controversial boxer that has ever graced the ring. He was one of the youngest champions of all time. He brought boxing a new life by being charismatic in the ring with several big knockouts and being a little off his rocker outside the ring. This is a documentary by James Toback. He wrote, directed, and produced it. The entire film is just an interview with “Iron” Mike mixed with photos and clips from his past. So this is a very one sided documentary. Mike just tells his own story and explains what he was thinking during certain times in his life. It’s a decent documentary. The clips are great but sometimes its hard following what Tyson is saying.
Tyson throws around words that he might not even know the meaning of. He constantly stammers and stumbles his way through his interview using words that don’t exactly make sense. But this is how Tyson always was. He throws in big words to prove he’s smart but then loses his temper and comes off as a common street thug. He’s a very troubled person. They go over the times when he freaked out on reporters, was imprisoned for rape, got knocked out for the first time, and bit Evander Holyfield’s ear. He had an excuse for each one. He has a Rocky Balboa type story. He was a young fighter on the streets who started turning his life around with boxing. He got lots of fame and money and stopped training as hard which caused him to lose. But then he drifts off the Rocky story when he goes to prison and is temporarily banned from boxing. He becomes an uncontrollable menace after that.
Toback has a weird style to his documentary. Most of the scenes were just Tyson sitting in his house talking to the camera while lots of different shots were combined together with audio overlapping. I was getting annoyed by it. The old boxing clips were amazing though. I was never a huge boxing fan but I do remember watching some of his fights in the early 90s. That just proves how popular Mike was. A non-boxing fan like myself even saw a lot of his big fights. Its an interesting documentary and brings back some memories but its basically just Tyson’s own view on his entire life. He’s very honest and emotional at times. This isn’t the full story of Mike Tyson but more of a confession from the man himself. Its sad actually how he fell from the very top all the way to the bottom. Honestly, I would have rather watched a variety of different opinions on Tyson by people that were involved with him during his boxing run. Or I would much rather prefer just watching old Tyson clips because those were the most entertaining parts of this film.
IMDB – 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 96%
Movie Wiseguys – 6.5/10