Tyson (2008)

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Running Time: 100 minutes (approx)

Production Year: 2008

Rating: 15 Certificate

Production Country: USA

Filmed in Colour

A sporting legend for all the wrong reasons, Mike Tyson threw away his reputation as a truly exceptional heavyweight boxer following a series of deplorable incidents both inside and outside of the ring.

Convicted of raping beauty queen Desiree Washington and serving three years of a six-year sentence, Tyson's fury was not abated following his release from prison, a series of comeback fights ending in public shaming when he bit off a piece of opponent Evander Holyfield's ear. Equally volatile in his personal life, Tyson has left a trail of damaged relationships, not to mention his much-publicised disputes with major boxing figures such as Don King.

Having fallen into drug abuse and subsequent bankruptcy, Tyson seems finally to have hit bottom and, in this remarkable documentary, director James Toback gives his subject the opportunity to tell his own side of the story, which he does with brutal honesty. Interspersed with clips from the boxer's remarkable and oft calamitous career, Tyson is a uniquely candid portrait of a man at war with himself, desperate to change and yet compelled to self-destruct at every turn. Regardless of whether or not you're a boxing fan, Tyson is an absolute must-see and simply one of the finest biographical documentaries ever made.