Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (2013)

I've loved Mike Tyson the boxer from the very 1st time I remember watching him during my tennage years back in the nineties. I'm from a rural town in England a million miles from Brooklyn New York and a million miles from the "gutter" as Mike would call it. To this day the media in the UK does its best to put people up on high down to the depths of despair and Mike alike so many others was never portraid to be anything other than an "animal" from my memory. IgNorant to media I could care less and ignored bad publicity because in my eyes Mike was a phenom a unique once in a millennia gift from the so called God above. An unmatched raw talent with electric speed and god like power that instantly made me a fan and gradually in a short space of time would see him rise to the top of the tree in my own "best boxer" pecking order. Yet who is Mike Tyson, what was his life like and would the "baddest man on the planet" ever share his story. Luckily Yes and he has. Whether you want to or not there is a lot to like and in some love about Iron Mike and you will be pleasantly surprised in Mike,s one man show delivery that he seems to be a natural. There may be profrainity and there may be violence described (within moderation) but hearing the story from the man himself may put all those sad sad doubters to bed. 9/10

Remember in Raging Bull when Jake tries his hand at the comedy clubs? Remember how painfully awkward those scenes where? Well Jake is freaking Richard Pryor compared to Mike Tyson in his one man show. It's just painful to watch as tries to get a laugh or tell a meaningful story. I remember once seeing a drunken guy try to do stand up in an open mic night. He'd lose focus and then suddenly start swearing and say he was going to "beat the ****" out of someone. Mike's show reminded me so much of the drunken stand-up that it was frightening. I couldn't help but wonder why HBO even bothered to air this. I've never been a Tyson fan but I started watching this in hopes that there was more to this guy than I thought. Well, to him then the angry thug we've all seen but, if he is a deeper guy, this show certainly doesn't showcase that.

The good thing about it looks like Mike cleaned up his act a lot. Other then that thought this was terrible! So much so I walked out after about 20 minutes of the show.Boring, pretentious, pompous, felt very staged and rehearsed (as opposed to being natural). Hard to call something the "truth" when someone else obviously writes the lines for you; and then you follow it like a parrot (as this appeared to be).Also a lot of the material was racist. When a "comedian" has to resort mainly to dirty and racist jokes, it's usually done in lieu of talent, skill, or creativity. I'm not talking about those that do/did it well like Eddy Murphy, Richard Prior, Red Fox, etc., as you know when they do they got a lot more going for them.Don't waste time on this one. There are much better biographic comedies out there to see instead.

The material is uneven, but you can sort of feel him in there, his spirit, where he came from, big moments, not all necessarily original but he can be surprisingly funny! I laughed quite a lot (that whole Mitch ongoing story was really a blast), and I'm no fan of the guy, not even as a boxer really. But he is M. Tyson, he's an icon. He's also a man who has to come to age and reflect on his life, as we all do, and personally I think Lee was able to bring some order to this chaotic man on stage, and make it interesting for the viewer. You have to give the man a break really. He was, and in many ways still is, somewhat a brute, struggling with his past, trying to make sense out of it. But it takes guts to do this and come out. It's really not a fact finding mission as in a documentary piece, despite the title - you get themes with some media support and varying levels of engagement from Tyson, from the very personal to the somewhat detached. On the whole I found it was pretty successful. Who would have thought?