TYSON Review

The greatest stories are often the ones that make us question our preconceived notions...I was never a fan of Mike Tyson. I never liked his cocky demeanor, or how increasingly aggressive he became (it's one thing to fight for a living, it's another to be a bully ), and like most everyone else, I looked at his downfall as sad, but not wholly undeserved. But halfway through this film, I found myself having turned around almost completely. Not to say that this documentary presents him in a particularly flattering light; in fact for much of the film, Tyson himself lays bare all of his worst moments, in a sort of matter-of-fact way that shows a man in his 40's who has spent alot of time coming to terms with the sins of his youth. The film is bare-bones; in essense it is just Tyson himself, sitting in an sofa chair, going through the major events of his life, sparringly intercut with clips for matches, previous interviews, and news footage. Ocassionally there is the use psuedo-poetic voiceovers by Tyson, easily the biggest offense of the film. And some can argue that the film is stilted by focusing soley on Tyson's perspective. But the result is compelling at the least, and at its best its a humane treatment of a larger-than-life figure, who perhaps for the first time, seems like a flesh-and-blood human being.