buster douglas
"Tyson" is not a conventional film biography. There is no variety of viewpoints, no back and forth about episodes in his life, and, except for interview footage from the past, no other voices heard.What you get is Mike Tyson, former heavyweight champion, former substance abuser, former prison inmate, talking with that unexpected slight lisp. You may not be happy with everything said, but you will not be bored."Tyson" starts with clips from the 1986 victory over Trevor Berbick that made him, at just 20, the youngest heavyweight champion ever. Actually, the word "victory" doesn't begin to do justice to Tyson's savagery in the ring. He takes Berbick apart with a ferocity that is almost terrifying, a ferocity that led to knockout victories in his first 19 bouts.
Tyson's career had no shortage of drama either. He lost the championship in 1990 to a 42-1 shot named James "Buster" Douglas, and his uncontrollable fury at what he considered to be head-butting by Evander Holyfield in 1997 led to an episode of ear-biting that ended his chances for another championship. "I have the mind of an extremist," Tyson says at one point, "I don't know how to live in the middle," and this unsettling documentary proves that without a doubt.
