3/4  Not a knockout but delivers
A decent documentary about Mike Tyson's rise in the boxing world to his troubled downfall and search for redemption. There are a lot of clips from early fights that help with the storytelling, though for some reason a lot are out of order.... (read full)

2/4  Not that good nor well done
I almost liked this movie. It is not a documentary, it is more like an interview. It is an HBO special at best. So the only real reason why I almost liked this movie is because I really like Tyson. There is no better boxing game than M... (read full)

2/5 From mediocre filmmakers come mediocre documentaries
  by Kate Stokes (Atlanta, GA)
Let me just start out by saying that far from being someone who has sat in judgment Mr. Tyson, I have even been called an apologist for him over the years given my proclivity towards objectivity regarding his life and career. I do find him to be a sympathetic, interesting, and multifaceted character. In addition, I am no enemy of the sport of boxing and have also found myself defending it as a legitimate sport many times over the years. Lastly, I am a huge documentary fan and watch them all the time, including those about boxing or boxers. I hate that I felt the need to say all that, but these days whenever you write a negative review about anything you are subject to ad hominem attacks about your ostensible hidden agendas. Bottom line, I have no agendas. I feel no ill-will towards Mr. Tyson, Boxing or Documentaries; far from it.

What I do feel ill-will towards, however, is mediocre filmmaking--which in my humble opinion is on display here. In fact, mediocre might be too complimentary. I have seen better work from first-time documentarian College Students who were not even film majors. Mr. Toback managed to take a very interesting man with an equally interesting life story and make it boring. The lighting, camera placement/cinematography, editing and sound were truly awful. Unfortunately this meant that far from just failing on a technical level in virtually every aspect, the failures understandably left the viewer feel as though they were attending a tax seminar, not sitting in front of an interesting person telling an interesting story. It is as if Mr. Toback literally just placed an HD camcorder on the coffee table and pressed record.

In fact I recall several months back hearing Mr. Toback describe the film in virtually the same way. He said that he and Mr. Tyson were friends, he thought it would be an interesting doc, he had the access to Mr. Tyson vis-à-vis their friendship, he got himself an HD camcorder and just stuck it in front of Mr. Tyson and pressed record. Unfortunately, regardless how interesting the story is, mediocre filmmaking will yield a mediocre film. Add in the fact that Mr. Tyson himself is not the most magnetic speaker and you have yourself a film so boring that it literally failed to meet the entertainment standards of trade seminars I have sat through. None of this comes as a surprise given Mr. Toback's feature filmography--which I suggest you refresh yourself with if you haven't already--but it does come as a disappointment. I hope this material will be given another look years or decades from now by a more skilled filmmaker. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because I can imagine someone liking it more than I did if they literally had no previous knowledge of any of these issues. Another problem for me was that I have followed his story closely anyway over the years so there was virtually no new information for me to glean from it.

4/5 Fear knocks out
  by J. L LaRegina (New Jersey)
The reason to be afraid of former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is he's afraid of you, afraid you are yet another who will hurt him, the 2009 documentary TYSON tells us. Unlike many such films, the only narration comes from the subject, Mike Tyson. As the prize fighter has been the topic of so much commentary - some of it perhaps uninformed - that seems fair. While TYSON features many film clips of the man's fights inside and outside the boxing ring, its original footage comprises Mr. Tyson reflecting on his accomplishments and failures.

In TYSON, Mike Tyson recalls he knew he'd won a boxing match before the first round when he saw an opponent's fear. However, Mr. Tyson says his numerous well-documented incidents of misconduct also resulted from fear - his own fear of suffering more of the pain and humiliation he knew so well in childhood, between the broken home and violent community from where he came.

I remember seeing Mike Tyson on a television talk show early in his career as he was racking up victories on his way to becoming boxing's youngest heavyweight champion. Humble and soft-spoken, he came across as a 200-pound puppy dog in that interview and I recall it so well, especially in contast to the ornery orator he became in the years that followed. While you may know the death of mentor Cus D'Amato stifled the progress Mr. Tyson (then just age 19) was making as a boxer, Tyson's testimony in this film shows losing Mr. D'Amato cost the young fighter the only family he knew.

With so much growing left to do when Cus D'Amato died, Mike Tyson fell prey to the con artists and freeloaders, TYSON recalls. Just as one can't succeed without help, maintaining success requires support too, and without Mr. D'Amato the hands around Mike Tyson were not helping.

The Mike Tyson I saw on that television talk show had a family. The Mike Tyson lunging at his opponents at fight weigh-ins was alone. And, again, afraid.

What Cus D'Amato was to Mike Tyson's development as both a fighter and a man, the film TYSON is to understanding Mike Tyson.

See TYSON.


5/5 Simply amazing, powerful, forceful and inspirational
  by Timothy J. Graham
This is a must see film for any person on this earth. At first glance it would seem like a sports biography about a boxer, but it is so much more than just that.

Tyson is a raw, emotional, elemental vignette into the mind and life of Mike Tyson. It moved me beyond words to hear his story, how he came to capture the attention of popular culture, his tragic yet unfinished life, the hope, the doom, the inspirational, the sad, the epic.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this film, especially to non-sports type people (I am not into boxing or sports very much).

5/5 Heart of a Worrier
  by Amr Ahmad Alghamdi (KSA, Khobar)
This movie is really amazing, I loved it.

Mike Tyson is the best in history of Boxing, the youngest champion, got it when he was 20 years old.

But behind this Iron beast, a kind heart full of pain.

I really recommend watching this movie . .

And the legacy of IRON MIKE shall survive the years . .

5/5 Moved ...
  by L. Rogers (Anywhere and Everywhere)
Much more than a story of a champion fallen. This could be the story of so many men (titles not withstanding.) I was incredibly moved by this documentary. I had an eerie feeling from the directors' interviews -- how he revealed his motivations for befriending and peeling back the layers of Mike Tyson. [Just my opinion: More for his greed than for his art.] As for the subject of this film, whatever you walk in thinking about him, he will show you more of both -- good and bad. I feel this film could do a lot for so many of our young men - especially those who are engaging in violence [of any sort] to cope with their feelings; feelings of love and feelings of rage and their juxtaposition. A sum of many parts: this is a story of what child abuse can cause any boy in our society and one man that found a way to endure into his 40's. Activists and the social services address much about what girls and women endure, but this time we witness the possible result of the neglect, the lack of nurturing, the missing identity and the poverty in every manner endured by our boys -- and THAT IF they survive the hell -- will become our men. And, this is a story of redemption (the motives of the director aside.) If the director intended to exploit Mike Tyson, Iron-Mike dodged the jab. For women who have endured abuse by a wounded male or their own wounded father... you may find empathy-if you will. The reality that they abuse because they were abused isn't an excuse for their behavior -- it's an understanding that may bring you hope and healing.