Customer Reviews

Tyson

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like a lot of sports fans, I followed Mike Tyson's career. The story of the delinquent from Brooklyn who became the heavyweight champ was tough to resist. When I saw all of the positive reviews of the film Tyson, I looked forward to watching it. After watching, I felt mildly disappointed; the media has covered Tyson's life with such intensity and for so long that nothing in the film seems fresh or revealing.

By any measure, Tyson is a great story. He's stood on the highest peaks and sunk to the lowest depths in his forty-odd years. For viewers who have are not familiar with Tyson, there is plenty to sustain interest. The intense coverage of Tyson has left reams of video that director James Toback weaves together to tell Tyson's story. However, viewers who are not boxing fans probably will find some of the slow-motion shots from Tyson's boxing matches to be grotesque.

The film also includes lots of soul-searching interviews with Tyson. Tyson struggles to put his life in perspective and makes some revealing comments; all too often, however, he blames his biggest failures on others. One problem with the interviews is that Tyson often slurs his words, making him difficult to understand. The slurring reminds me of Muhammad Ali at about the same age and it makes me worry that Tyson may also have brain damage from boxing.

Tyson's life has been so remarkable for so long that his story may be better suited to a book. I'm glad I watched this film; I'm just not as enthusiastic as are other reviewers.

I watched most of Mike Tyson's big fights growing up. But after the stories of uncontrollable anger, biting off part of another boxer's ear, and rape conviction, how could I not think he was the scum of the earth?

I have come to realize three things after watching this documentary. First, Mike Tyson could have been the best fighter ever, had he done a better job controlling himself outside of the ring (no question about it). Second, the media seemed to have a good time portraying him as a jerk. Third, he was only human. I consider myself a good person, but I'm sure I would have made many of the same dumb mistakes if I were in his shoes.

I found myself feeling compassion for Tyson and believing he is actually a good person. Perhaps he was just too successful at too young of an age? Whatever the case, I would love to sit and enjoy a nice cold beer with the guy.

The documentary is told in Tyson's own words. The documentary shows clips of many of Tyson's fights as well as telling his story about his childhood.

This video would be enjoyed most by people who knew Tyson, regardless of what their opinion of him is. For others who weren't as familiar with him, they likely won't enjoy it is as much but should still be entertained by the story of his life.

Mike Tyson is one of the most misunderstood people to have ever come along. I have been a boxing fan, especially a Mike Tyson fan, for years now and even I didn't know a lot of the back story of Mike Tyson. There is so much misinformation floating around about Mike Tyson. The biggest of these is that Mike is a rapist. Mike was framed by a woman who seemed to make a career out of framing men for rape. He was a tough kid from the streets who really didn't have much of an education and went right into the ring and into the spotlight. The Holyfield ear bite was because Holyfield was headbutting Tyson for 2 fights and was getting no help from the referee. Holyfield is on the list of dirtiest fighters ever as he has performed the "accidental" headbutt in every one of this fights (ever seen Rahman's head after the Holyfield fight?). I agree what Tyson did was wrong but he was a tough kid from the street who was backed into a corner. How did you expect him to react? If you watch the fights of Mike Tyson he went over after pretty much every single fight he ever had to make sure the other fighter was OK and helped them up. Mike talked about being scared each and every time he went into the ring. I really feel bad for the way things have turned out for him but I'm glad to see he didn't make a really big mistake and end up in prison for life. He seems to be pretty happy now but what happened to his daughter 2 years ago was a tragedy. Regardless of what anyone says Mike Tyson in the top 3 for hardest punchers of all time and that is a fact.

This is the story of Mike Tyson. This movie doesn't just introduce the viewer to his boxing legacy but also helps the general public get to know arguably the most misunderstood athlete or celebrity in modern history. Mike Tyson explains what made him the man he is today, talks about his family, and of course, his legendary boxing career. Footage of fights are included, as well as interviews. I recommend this for anyone that is a boxing fan or wants to understand Mike Tyson.

Whether you are an old fan of Tyson or you can't stand the guy, if you go into this documentary with an open mind you'll love it and most likely come away with a fresh perspective on the guy. This documentary functions as an in depth and entertaining look at one of the biggest (and most controversial) sport figures of our times. The film is basically one long sit down with Mike, as he narrates us through his life in a very personal and honest way. As he speaks there is of course frequent intercut news and fight footage to accompany the interviews.

The movie successfully gets to the roots of Tyson's mad and often unflattering behavior, about halfway through the movie you'll start to realize you kind of understand why he is the way he is. You'll never see stuff like the Holyfield ear biting incident the same way again. The best thing about the movie is how Tyson seems to be able to step outside of himself to explore his behavior and persona in a surprisingly objective light, which is something I think most viewers will find refreshing. Anyone who likes a good character study should definitely check this out... I found it endlessly fascinating. 4.25/5 stars

This is my very personal opinion! my own experience...

Tyson makes me so proud for being a fan of boxing. It was fascinating to see and hear this man speak about his early memories. It was touching, and it can't get more real than this! Tyson is still a champion, always will be. Amidst the chaos in his head, his story is fiery and... human.
Anyway, it was insightful and enjoyable as well.

If you want to understand Tyson, then watch this film. It contains many fight clips as well as extensive interviewing of Tyson. It goes through Tyson's life from beginning to 2009. Mike Tyson's reign may not have been long, but he had something special, which I will call the Greatness Factor. At the height of his career, Tyson was undeniably GREAT! He took down the best fighters of his day, making them look like amateurs. When Tyson was in top shape, he was unstoppable. I see a parallel with Bobby Fischer, 1972 world chess champion. Fischer also possessed the Greatness Factor. Again, his reign didn't last long as he failed to defend his title, but in 1970 when he played the candidates tournament to see who would go on to face the then current world champion, Fischer annihilated the competition. He beat top grandmasters 6 wins to 0 losses. Similarly, Tyson beat top contenders (remember Sphinx) in the first round. He won the Championship against Berbick in the second round. Again, Greatness. True greatness comes when you are so far ahead of the competition that you more or less walk over them. Tyson and Fischer's reigns didn't last long, but it's ok because they gave us something much more valuable. They showed us true Greatness (in their sport, not their personal lives). Tyson will go down as a legend.

I grew up watching Mike Tyson back in the days when his fights were free on HBO / Showtime. They were always an event and something me and my friends looked forward to (accept after the fight when someone would pretend to be Tyson and someone else got to play his opponent). So when I saw the Tyson documentary I bought it for the nostalgia of my youth. At this point in my life I no longer thought Tyson was the badest man on the planet and even thought of him of somewhat of a joke (when you consider it his fights with Holyfield and Lewis plus his most recent comebacks).

However there is a lot to Tyson that people tend to gloss over and the reality is he is a very interesting person both in the good and bad sense. Yes he has a past that is not very respectful and he seems to have a low opinion of women. However this documentary really shows you how and why Tyson is who is is, and perhaps in a similar situation some of us would have made the same choices he did?

This is a movie that Tyson is the central character of and not a bunch of people sitting around remembering how great he was. This is Tyson the man laying it out and being very open and honest. I would have enjoyed this movie if I had never heard of Tyson but being a former fan I really walked away happy.

I watched Tyson from his glory years to his bitter and embarrassing end in the boxing world. In his hey day I don't think there was another boxer who gave us such a brutal display of raw power. This documentary is very good, but there are a few issues with it that kept me from giving it 5 stars. The biggest reason is that at certain points the producer uses a split screen with multiple bits of dialogue that over lap and this is not only distracting, but actually brings on unintentional humor as it makes it look like Tyson is just rambling! It's a heartbreaking story and all the makers of this film needed to do is turn the camera on. We don't need any optical tricks as Mike's tragic to inspiring and then tragic again life is more than enough to hold one's interest. I would have liked to have seen some more fighting footage too, but it's a very good documentary about a man who came so close to being the greatest boxer of all time.

Outstanding documentary by James Toback on friend Mike Tyson, the greatest athlete of the past 75 years. This is the best movie I have ever seen.