RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / Upcoming / Tyson
Tyson

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Tyson (2009)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
85 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:126

Fresh:107

Rotten:19

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.

Australian Rating: TBC

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Australian Theatrical Release:
Aug 6, 2009 Wide

US Box Office: $825,450

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... 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 lets Tyson tell his own volatile story. It all started in a rough-and-tumble Brooklyn neighborhood, where Tyson was picked on and beaten up as a youngster. But when he turned his fear into anger, he realized that his fists had the ferocity to frighten everyone around him. As a teenager, Tyson moved upstate to live with trainer Cus D’Amato, who became the devoted and compassionate father figure he never had. This support helped Tyson develop the strength and focus needed to become a devastating champion inside the ring. But when D’Amato died, something inside Tyson died too, turning him into an even more dangerous monster outside of the ring. As Tyson speaks openly about the ups and downs in his tumultuous life--alternating between moments of sincere introspection and animalistic rage--Toback employs a split-screen approach to further emphasize his emotionally unstable nature. Mixed into this talking-head monologue is striking archival footage that shows Tyson in his prime, when he was one of the most feared and idolized athletes on the planet. TYSON is an appropriately subjective journey into the mind of a massively complicated man. [More]

Director: James Toback

Director: James Toback
Producer: James Toback, Damon Bingham
Composer: Salaam Remi
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Tyson

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
splat
1/5

Giles Hardie

Just relentless lisping monotonous speech that makes the prospect of entering the ring with Mike seem attractive if only because it will be over sooner.

Full Review Source: | comment 3 Comments | Aug., 09 2009 11:45 PM

Sydney Morning Herald

tomato
3/5

Philippa Hawker

There is something compelling about the way he presents his version of the stories and scandals that surround him.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2009 04:58 AM

The Age (Australia)

tomato
4/5

Margaret Pomeranz

In these interviews, there's a strange poetry to the way he talks about his life. I actually found it really moving.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2009 06:04 PM

At the Movies (Australia)

tomato
4/5

David Stratton

He’s amazingly frank about some of the people he doesn’t like, and he breaks down when he talks about his friends and the people he loved. A surprisingly fine documentary.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2009 06:02 PM

At the Movies (Australia)

tomato
5/5

Ed Gibbs

Tyson is presented via multiple split screen, with relentlessly frank and rhythmic sentences overlapping one another. The effect is mesmerising.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2009 05:51 PM

Empire Magazine Australasia

tomato

Brian Duff

Brutally honest, Tyson offers one perspective on the life of the boxer – his own. This intimate look is enough to carry the film through its fascinating portrait of the fallen hero.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 04 2009 10:48 PM

FILMINK (Australia)

tomato
3/5

Colin Newton

This doco goes a little way to portraying Tyson as more human than animal. Iron Mike even sheds a few tears.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 02 2009 05:55 PM

Courier Mail (Australia)

tomato
3.5/5

Jennifer Merin

Toback's approach to Tyson pulls no punches. It is extraordinarily revealing.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 19 2009 09:56 PM

About.com

tomato
3.5/4

Sonny Bunch

Utterly absorbing and fascinating, Tyson captivates viewers for its 90 minutes.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 30 2009 11:09 AM

Washington Times

tomato
8/10

James Plath

Until I saw Tyson, I wouldn't have believed it possible to film a one-sided documentary that felt truthful and complete."

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 29 2009 08:28 AM

DVDTown.com

splat

Fernando F. Croce

Tyson is indeed an intriguingly contradictory hulk, but he's far from the troubling Caliban Toback's own obsessions with athleticism and negritude make him out to be

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 25 2009 10:01 PM

CinePassion

tomato
3/4

Mike Scott

Tyson's dissection of his own struggles makes the film hard to turn away from. In that respect, Tyson is a lot like a train wreck. In fact, Tyson's life is like a train wreck in a lot of ways.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 21 2009 05:15 AM

Times-Picayune

tomato
3/4

Jeff Vice

You certainly hope that the humility Mike Tyson is showing these days is genuine and not just an act.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 19 2009 03:16 AM

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

tomato

Jason Di Rosso

In the end this is an unflinching portrait of a man, honest and beguiling. It puts Tyson's sins into context, but never excuses him. In a way, it's also a very American story about success from nothing and the double-edged sword of money and fame.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2009 05:01 AM

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

tomato
88/100

Philip Martin

...if Tyson never manages to charm us, there are other times when he comes off as touchingly naive. He's uncommonly empathetic to those who might think him a monster. It seems he often sometimes thinks of himself the same way.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 24 2009 03:51 PM

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

splat

Andrew O'Hehir

Half-appealing, half-pathetic.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 16 2009 03:15 AM

Salon.com

tomato
3.5/5

Amber Wilkinson

Like the heavyweight prize-fighter in his prime, this is documentary stripped back to its leanest form.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 04 2009 09:19 AM

Eye for Film

tomato
4/5

Roger Moore

It all adds up to a fascinating psychological study, a film that goes beyond both the public persona and the fighter's own spin to get at the frightened, angry, explosive, yet utterly understandable boy who became a very troubled and very public man.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 24 2009 12:24 PM

Orlando Sentinel

tomato
2.5/4

Sean O'Connell

A one-sided account of Mike Tyson's compelling rise and fall, told by the man who lived the tale.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 15 2009 11:37 AM

Charlotte Weekly

tomato

Jonathan F. Richards

The most remarkable revelation of the movie is its subject's thoughtful, reflective eloquence and unflinching self-perception...Tyson may or may not be entirely who he says he is, but he's probably not who we thought he was, either.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 13 2009 12:55 PM

Film.com

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

Latest News for Tyson

August 17, 2009: RT on DVD: From Hannah Montana's Hoedown to Last House on the Left
This week, get your Miley Cyrus fix with Hannah Montana's feature-length trip to the big screen (Hannah Montana The Movie), or do a complete 180-degree turn with the latest... More...

April 23, 2009: Critics Consensus: Fighting Is Down For The Count
This week at the movies, weve got bare-knuckle bouts (Fighting, starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard), the wonders of nature (Earth, narrated by James Earl Jones), a... More...

January 19, 2009: Tyson Traces the Rise and Fall of a Champ Opens in new window
2008 was a bad year for documentaries at the box office, but promoting them is still one of Sundance's top priorities -- and "Tyson" is one of this year's most high-profile... More...

See All

More Movies

Coming Soon in Australia
Tomatometer Percentage Movie Date

89% 89% Up in the Air 14/1
— The Tooth Fairy 14/1
— Bran Nue Dae 14/1

What’s Hot On RT

Inception Trailer

Inception Trailer

See the new trailer for Chris Nolan's latest

2010's Biggest Films

2010's Biggest Films

We preview all the new year's major releases

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia

Go behind the scenes with this new clip

Producers Guild

Producers Guild

See which films topped the pre-Oscar US noms

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • George Lucas Talks Star Wars Source: Collider.com
17
  • Spider-Man 4: A Sequel in Search of a Script Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
74
  • Sam Mendes in Discussions for Bond 23 Source: Los Angeles Times
34
  • Christopher Lee, Heavy Metal Rock God Source: Videogum
5
  • Weekly Ketchup: Annual Ketchup Edition
74
  • Harold Ramis Discusses Filmography, Teases Ghostbusters 3 Source: Heeb Magazine
16
  • National Film Registry Adds 2009 Selections Source: Hollywood Reporter
9
  • New Moon Tops Moviefone's 2009 List Source: Hollywood Reporter
30
  • Star Trek Tops 2009's Most-Pirated Movies List Source: Hollywood Reporter
19
  • Weekly Ketchup: Peter Jackson's Secret Sci-Fi Project
114
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Avatar Continues Its Run In 2010
230
  • Awards Tour: 2010 People's Choice Awards Winners!
166
  • Rotten Tomatoes Is Joining Forces With Flixster!
50
  • Weekly Ketchup: Annual Ketchup Edition
37
  • Awards Tour: The Hurt Locker Wins Big At National Society of Film Critics Awards
37
  • Five Favorites of the Five Favorite Films of 2009
36
  • Friday Harvest: Eclipse, Robin Hood, and more!
31
  • Awards Tour: Producers Guild Announces Nominees
25
  • Total Recall: Amy Adams' Best Movies
17
  • RT on DVD: District 9, Ponyo, Young Victoria
1
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films With Peter Jackson
76
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
22
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
24
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • RT on DVD: Wassup, Bruno
3
  • Scott Hicks Talks The Boys Are Back
0
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
16
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Tyson at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Tyson at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
40 Best Films of the 2000s
40 Best Films of the 2000s External Link

Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!

Competitions
Win Funny People on DVD
Win Funny People on DVD External Link

We're giving away copies of Judd Apatow's latest.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo
About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Press | Careers
IGN | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | Direct2Drive | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Game Sites | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GIGA.DE | What They Play | Battlefield Heroes
By continuing past this page, and by your continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2010, IGN Entertainment, Inc. | Support | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! RSS Feeds
IGN’s enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA.
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.