Tyson (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:123
Fresh:106
Rotten:17
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: A fascinating, emotional, and frank confessional from Iron Mike that sheds a sympathetic light on one of boxing's most controversial icons.
Theatrical Release:27-03-2009
Synopsis: Love him or hate him, Mike Tyson is inarguably one of popular culture’s most fascinating figures. In this riveting documentary portrait of the controversial boxer, filmmaker and friend James Toback... [More]
Director: James Toback
Reviews for Tyson
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 3/5 |
Plainly, this isn’t the only account you would need to consult to form a proper picture of the man, but it’s a compelling spectacle, to be sure. Full Review |
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A documentary that is as near to an honest apologia as we're ever likely to get. It's a fascinating story, though not a pretty one. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A highly divisive figure tells his side of the story in a revealing film that still leaves too many questions unanswered. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Mixed with clips and photos from his tumultuous career but no contributions from peers or 'experts', this is a genuinely incisive portrait of a fighter at war with himself. Full Review |
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3/5 |
The result is fascinating yet troubling. Full Review |
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Tyson won’t shatter all your preconceptions, but if you don’t at least question them, you haven’t been paying attention. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Not the full story - not even close - but this is ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson as you’ve never seen him before. One of the most devastatingly personal on-camera confessionals ever put on screen. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Very humane portrait of a potentially extremely unlikeable character. Full Review |
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3/6 |
Toback steers Tyson through every triumph and disaster you want to hear about, never pretending that the platform belongs to anyone but the man they used to call Iron Mike. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Toback’s split-screen moments, in which the film dissolves from gripping memories into something far closer to stream of consciousness, is pure documentary poetry. Hold tight for a guided tour of Tyson’s surreal descent into hell. Full Review |
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 2/5 |
It's certainly an effectively tough, unsentimental look at boxing. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Up close with a mumbling criminal – sorry, boxing legend – whom James Toback probes for a conscience, finding crazy levels of self-delusion instead. Full Review |
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3/5 |
James Toback’s been close with Tyson since the 80s (he played in Toback’s Black And White), and this stab at redemption is subjective and sympathetic. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Prepare to be floored yourself as the retired boxer delivers an emotionally devastating and nakedly honest confession about his life, times and crimes. Full Review |
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3/5 |
It is a fascinating interview which would have been more powerful if Tobak hadn’t pulled his punches. Full Review |
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Like Raging Bull, like On the Waterfront, even like Woyzeck (the granddaddy of lumpenprole tragic drama), Toback’s portrait asks us to ransack the human animal to see if there is a soul inside – and if so, of precisely what kind? Full Review |
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4/5 |
Very humane portrait of a potentially extremely unlikeable character. Full Review |
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4/5 |
For a documentary, this film isn't remotely balanced, telling the story only through the eyes of the boxer himself, along with historical footage. But it's so expertly assembled that it's absolutely riveting. Full Review |
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3/5 |
It makes for a fascinating film about a man who was drawn by fate into a level of fame and fortune he couldn’t deal with and has become a convincing ringside commentator on his own life. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Despite its apparent one-sidedness, this is a riveting and unexpectedly moving documentary that's guaranteed to make you view its subject in a new light. Full Review |
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