Review: Tyson

Directed and Written by: James Toback
Starring: Mike Tyson

---In the United States there are a few people that the public loves to hate. Generally these individuals are those who have the people’s support for a while but then do a series of things that make their constituency shake their heads and put their hands up in disgust. Recently these people were Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. About ten years ago though it was ferocious fighter ‘Kid Dynamite’ Mike Tyson. He committed a series of acts that the public didn’t take a liking to and so he faded into ‘bolivion.’ Filmmaker James Toback decided to chronicle the boxer’s life, as if just to pick his brain in this 2008 documentary “Tyson.”
---The film starts with Mike Tyson explaining his childhood. His parents split up at a young age and he moved to a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn where it was either ‘kill or be killed.’ He was picked on a lot which lead to his first fight, something he wouldn’t have even dreamed of doing a few years before that. He went to a corrections facility at the age of twelve for a crime he didn’t commit and he was introduced to boxing. He met a fighter and turned his life around to show he really wanted to fight, becoming a gentleman, young scholar, and athlete. Getting a trainer, he competed at the junior Olympics setting many records.
---His trainer became his best friend and father figure affecting every aspect of his life. He was disciplined and clean cut. However after some time his trainer died which was tragic for Tyson. He let the fame swell to his head and became promiscuous and practically lost some of his sanity. During some of his fights he became blinded by fury and won in seconds. Later on he was jailed a few more times and started losing fights and training much less. In his last fight, he lost to Kevin McBride and made the announcement after the fight that he didn’t have the will to continue fighting and that it wasn’t in his heart anymore. Currently he lives with his children and wants to see them grow up and graduate school and eventually have grandkids. As far Tyson’s opinion on his own life, he considers it a failure and a waste. He is extremely disappointed with it and wishes he could do it over.
---Toback does a great job at with this documentary. Most of the film is a direct interview with Tyson. There is no footage of the interviewer. There is also a decent amount of fight and training footage from all across Tyson’s career. The cinematography in this film is the best part of the film. Much of the interview is done with a tight close up, as to see the emotion and weariness on the fighter’s face. The viewer can tell that ‘Iron Mike’ has been through a lot and really regrets a lot of it. Toback also uses a technique consisting of cut scenes that have three pieces of footage playing at once so as to show the hectic nature of Tyson’s life.
---There is not too much to this film. It is really quite simple. However the viewer has a tendency to become transfixed on the eyes of Mike Tyson and feel sympathy for him. I give this documentary a 4.5 out of 5.