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Tyson
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Universal acclaim
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by: James Toback
Directed by: James Toback
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 24, 2009
DVD: August 18, 2009
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language including sexual references
Starring Mike Tyson
Tyson is acclaimed indie director James Toback's stylistically inventive portrait of a mesmerizing Mike Tyson. Toback allows Tyson to reveal himself without inhibition and with eloquence and a pervasive vulnerability. Through a mixture of original interviews and archival footage and photographs, a startlingly complex, fully-rounded human being emerges. The film ranges from Tyson’s earliest memories of growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn through his entry into the world of boxing, to his roller coaster ride in the fun house of worldwide fame and fortunes won and lost. It is the story of a legendary and uniquely controversial international athletic icon, a figure conjuring radical questions of race and class. In its depiction of a man rising from the most debased circumstances to unlimited heights, destroyed by his own hubris, Tyson emerges as a modern day version of classic Greek tragedy. (Sony Classics)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The result is an often-anguished monologue built on pride, despair and self-defense. Accuracy aside, Tyson does work hard to analyze his own, clearly complex character. So while we only get half the picture, it makes for consistently compelling viewing.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A documentary with no pretense of objectivity. Here is Mike Tyson's story in his own words, and it is surprisingly persuasive.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Toback has found a documentary subject as tragic and ridiculous, as bizarre and driven, as the heroes of his other films.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
What emerges is a fallen warrior's tale: the inside story of a man bloodied and bowed.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. Toback's film, partly because it restricts itself to Mr. Tyson's point of view, offers a rare and vivid study in the complexity of a single suffering, raging soul. It is not an entirely trustworthy movie, but it does feel profoundly honest.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The result is as gripping as a title fight and as mesmerizing as a conversation with a cobra. You may not be happy with everything said, but you will not be bored.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
By getting Tyson to open up as he has, Toback has succeeded in illuminating one of the most polarizing, complex and -- the film almost forces one to admit -- misunderstood figures of our time.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
No filmmaker I know has gotten as close to a professional athlete as James Toback gets to Mike Tyson in his new documentary.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Scott Foundas
Tyson is more like a particularly riveting therapy session, with Tyson as both analyst and patient.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
You won't know what hit you after watching Tyson. This power punch to the gut is one of the best movies of any kind this year.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Terrifically compelling and, more than that, unexpectedly moving.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
No other sporting figure has ever been afforded so much screen time for self-revelation: just another instance of Iron Mike's one-of-a-kind status.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
What's so affecting about him in the film, though, is that he doesn't seem monstrous at all. To the contrary, Iron Mike, having meted out epic suffering in the ring and other venues, seems to be a man who has suffered genuinely, even terribly, in the course of a life that he never believed would last 40 years.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The resulting portrait shows a seriously troubled man whose brutality was bred into him on the punishing streets of Brooklyn and whose modest wisdom seems as hard-won as any title. Tyson's fight career may be over, but his battle with himself has many rounds to go.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Whitney Borup
If you’re not really interested in Mike Tyson as a boxer and a person, the film doesn't give you much to go on. This is a movie called Tyson and it is about Mike Tyson – and nothing else.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
It's a sympathetic portrait of a complex man driven by an anger that still bubbles beneath the surface.
Read Full Review >Empire Damon Wise
Very humane portrait of a potentially extremely unlikeable character.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It's brutal to watch the bigger-they-are-the-harder-they-fall tragedy of this once-great heavyweight. In fact, it's enough to make you cry.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie humanizes Tyson and brings him down to the land of mortals, making his achievements loom larger. And if the boxer hasn't entirely made peace with his troubled soul, Tyson suggests the struggle is going his way.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
An absorbing and not-too-uncomfortable experience, so long as you remember there's a camera lens and a big distance between you and the film's violent subject.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Gives a taste of what it might be like to live inside Mike Tyson's mind.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Ultimately, this may be the closest we'll ever get to understanding how Mike feels about himself, and there's value in viewing that assessment.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Tyson does succeed in humanizing a deeply troubled individual who has been depicted as an almost animalistic stereotype of African-American manhood.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
The movie makes it clear that, for all his snarls and outbursts, he is intelligent, candid, and easily wounded; that he is by turns inordinately proud and inordinately ashamed and, above all, intensely curious about himself, as if his own nature were a mystery that had not yet been solved.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Tyson can be brutal with himself, but Toback's fawning documentary lets him off easy.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The result is flashy, but the meaning is a bit of a bob and weave.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
It's a movie that's thought-provoking without being intelligent and candid without being truthful. The same aesthetic choices that Toback seems convinced will set his documentary apart are also what diminishes its credibility.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mike D gave it a10:
Excellent documentary on Mike Tyson. Very engaging and will keep you glued to the movie. This movie humanizes a man that has been misunderstood by the public since Day 1.
Joe T. gave it a9:
Riveting documentary, particularly how (he) explains his mindset as a kid before he discovered boxing (or it discovered him), and how this informs everything after. His talk on his boxing style and what the sport means to me is insightful too. The latter half (i.e. Robin Givens onwards) is painful to watch (like a train speeding off that cliff... again... and again... and again...). The documentary reminds me of JCVD and The Wrestler (it's that kind of experience). Mike Tyson, greatest boxing champion ever! (except Mohammad Ali, who even Tyson acknowledges as greater).
John gave it a10:
I saw this movie months ago. I re-lived the joys of a dominant boxer, and humiliation of a broken man I felt the heat break, and saw the train wreck. You are mesmerized by his accounts of story telling. The tale seemed to end too-soon, especially with the recent passing of his young daughter, and marriage a few days later you have to wonder, what he was feeling and thinking, but not feel suprised at all.
Jay H. gave it a4:
It's certainly a well crafted documentary and has excellent use of past footage. But bottom line is I was completely bored. I have no interest in Mike Tyson, I could not understand some of what he was saying in his interviews since his English consists primarily of heavy accented mumbling. It does delve into his persona, revealing an unexpected side of him, but I still couldn't care less about him.
Joseph K gave it a9:
Mike Tyson is my favorite rapist and at first i wasnt sure if the movie was going to be honest about him but it was and it was a good movie you should see it.
John B. gave it a9:
LOVED IT! very interesting movie, and we finally get to see it from tysons point of view. youll gain a new perspective of mike after seeing this
Stuart W gave it a9:
I gave this such a high score because i grew up watching the fights at ridiculous hours of the morning. he was my hero in such a way that when he was destroyed by Lennox Lewis i couldn't help but well up a bit. When he was younger he looked unbeatable. This film shows that had things been slightly different, maybe he would have gone down in history as the greatest. instead, he is portayed as an extremley mixed up individual who isn't telling the whole truth most of the time. Mike Tyson said of himself that he is he most foolish person he knows after blowing nearly $400 million. he tries to defend his mistakes, it's intriguing to hear what he has to say, but deep down you sense that he abused his power and success on more than one occasion. Great film if you are a fan.
