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With a standing ovation at Cannes lasting ten minutes, James Toback's Tyson, the newest chronicle of the 'Baddest Man on the Planet', must have ticked the satisfaction boxes of the notoriously harsh crowd with chunky Nike swooshes. The story of Michael Gerard Tyson is a screenwriter's dream with an almost Henry VIII-esque arc; 'Iron Mike' in the title role as the flawed genius who is influenced heavily by advisers (Don King as a Cardinal Wolsey figure), avaricious women (Robin Givens reminiscent of any of Henry's six wives) and illustrious contemporaries (Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Pope - well, possibly a comparison too far!). However, with a biopic in the works for years without any real input from the man himself, other Tyson documentaries in the past have been more negative than honest. With shades of Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen screen segmentation swipes, Tyson is brutally frank with his own story. His trademark lisp echoes that of the child who was bullied in the tough New York neighbourhood he barely survived in until boxing acted as his salvation.
Amidst the confessions Toback manages to glean from quite possibly the most devastating puncher ever, there is an undercurrent of emancipation interlaced with the archive footage of devastating knockouts, controversial press conferences and fierce training sessions. Anyone with any knowledge of sporting or celebrity life is aware of the case against Tyson, and Toback simply offers him the chance to redeem himself. Normally this would be an obvious downfall for a documentary as objectivity is key, but Tyson acts as a perfect platform in which to transform monster to human being. We learn his trainer Cus D'Amato was his hero, Desiree Washington, the beauty queen he allegedly raped, is a lying 'swine', even though he states his sorrow throughout at how he mistreated women, and James 'Buster' Douglas, the man who shockingly defeated him in Tokyo, Japan in 1990, brought him back down to earth after becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history at 20 in 1986. The 90 minutes here is far from the full story of such a contentious figure as his three years in prison and his monetary woes are skated over but maybe Toback and Tyson are satisfied with the ammunition already gathered for such a good personal confession.
The summary
Excuse the pun, but an absolute knockout.
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