Tyson

2008 documentary

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A grown man with a tattooed face makes excuses for his transgressions. Then, he becomes a cannibal.

Iron Mike is a fascinatingly complex dude. He's a heavily flawed fellow, and here he's telling his own story in a heavily flawed way, complete with what you have to assume are misrememberings and perplexing answers to questions you may not have even asked. A lot of the episodes in his troubled life, or more accurately his description of these moments, are entertaining. And for the most part, it seems completely candid, although with the amount of things that have been in this guy's system combined with the amount of times this guy's been hit in the head, you do wonder if he's the most reliable person to tell his own story. The most interesting thing to me about this is that he knows he's a heavily flawed fellow, and although he does try to excuse his bad behavior, it's not really in a despicable way. My biggest problem with the documentary was its heavy-handed documentary style. I could have done without the overlapping interview snippets or the split screen. One Mike Tyson is enough for me, thank you very much. I don't need to see two or three at the same time. Unless they're dancing. That would have been pretty awesome. This subject matter could have been handled in lots of different ways. Hearing it directly from the horse's ass's mouth makes for an interesting experience, and there's more than enough archival footage to fill in the gaps.

A Larst recommendation.