Tyson

Rating:

The first thing you should know about James Toback’s  documentary “Tyson”  is that about 80% of it is Mike Tyson’s talking head.   Every now and then Toback cuts to footage of a fight, or of Tyson on the news, or to a soundbyte from his trainer or Don King, but the only person interviewed for this documentary was Mike Tyson.   He tells his own story, without corroboration or contradiction from any other source.

The second thing you should know is that the man can talk.   An avalanche of words pour from him.   He is never without something to say, and he rarely pauses to reflect.  He is surprisingly honest about his life, reasonably articulate, and there’s a certain bizarre, intoxicating quality to letting his voice dominate you for 2 hours straight.   You might even start to see things his way.

You will sympathize with his tough upbrining, in Brooklyn’s brownstone district.  You will certainly see the toll the death of his trainer, Cuss D’Amato, took on him, and how things started to go wrong for him after that.  You’ll certainly agree that he and Robin Givens were just kids who couldn’t make a marriage work because everybody was in their business all the time.  You will feel his mortification at hearing Givens say to Barbara Walters, on national television, with him sitting right next to her, that being married to him is hell.

You might even be tempted to believe that the woman who accused him of rape– for which he went to prison for three years — did it for the money.   Or that he bit Evander Holyfield’s ear in that infamous fight because Holyfield kept head butting him, and the ref wasn’t calling it.

But you also might marvel at the contradictions that come out of his mouth, like when he says he lost his faith in God in prison, then says prison’s where he became a Muslim.    Or when he tears up and his voice cracks  as he talks about being able to “f***ing kill anyone” who tries to hurt him.

Clearly, “Tyson” is far from an objective documentary about the boxer.   Still, it’s surprising just how absorbing it is to sit and listen to Mike Tyson tell his own story, prejudices, biases, and wrongheadedness included.    The man can talk up a storm.