Mike Tyson kisses the canvas and bites the dust in this series where he exposes his life: the tribulations of one of the most intense and controversial lives in the world of sports
Last week, in a debatable marketing maneuver, Disney Plus Day was held to commemorate -in advance- the anniversary of the launch of the entertainment giant’s platform. The celebration consisted of streaming several long-awaited releases at once, the impact of which has been significantly diluted due to the saturation of releases. If we add to the growing offer of titles in general, week after week, a consignment of novelties available in one fell swoop in the same catalog on the same day, it is likely that some of the proposals suffer and are not promoted as they should. The same day saw the light of the real image version of ‘Pinocchio’ -of which little is said-, short films based on ‘Cars’, the series ‘Tierra incógnita’ and ‘Bodas de corazón’, the online premiere of the latest of ‘Thor’, various previews, documentaries… The lot also featured ‘Pistol’, the recreation of the life and chaos of the Sex Pistols by Danny Boyle (‘Trainspotting’) in serialized format, and ‘Mike’, a biopic Accelerated by Mike Tyson himself. This latest production deserves to be rescued from the avalanche, given its undoubted interest as a portrait of the rise and fall of one of the many idols made in the USA, an athlete who reached the top from nowhere to become a caricature of himself with the inexcusable media complicity. The meat is the meat.
Tyson’s career is fueled by sensationalism by its own weight, but it is not usual for this type of subject turned into idol from scratch, accustomed to getting up from the ground again and again, to be treated with restraint when his career suffers and they lean over the precipice. Adding fuel to the fire is sadly usual, in the news, in the huddles and wherever it touches. To make this unfair human behavior clear, the series dedicated to one of the most famous boxers of all time begins with an image that will haunt him forever: the bite on his opponent’s ear on the canvas. Spitting out the piece of meat covered in blood, the piece of Holyfield, freezes before our eyes as spectators and Tyson himself, with a voiceover, rewinds to tell his story, making us part of the decline of the show that is to come. Turned into a monologuist, into a sympathetic coach, dressed in a suit in a large auditorium in front of a crowded audience, the protagonist recounts his experiences from a harsh childhood in the suburbs where he reaped his first traumas. He was a chubby little boy, bullied by lisping when he speaks. A daily beating, being part of a dysfunctional family did not help his personal growth from the supposed normality either.
Surrounded by controversy
Tyson, always surrounded by controversy, became a fighter, he took out all his anger, at the moment in which he witnessed the decapitation of a pigeon that he cared for on the roof of a building. Several kids surrounded him, laughing and pointing at him, while the leader of the group made fun of the bird-loving fool. The red jet that came out of the animal’s neck was the drop -of blood- that broke the camel’s back. Mike beat the abuser with a firm hand and knocked him out in front of his colleagues. Thus he earned the respect of the pack and went on to become an influential petty thief in the neighborhood. He did not know how to read or write and he was looking for chestnuts going the wrong way, which is why he ended up with his bones in jail. The beatings of his single mother did not intimidate him. The same woman who left this world before her time, without knowing that her offspring would succeed in the future. The loser boy never expected to leave the neighborhood, he didn’t even think about turning twenty, but his name was displayed in neon letters in huge auditoriums, without losing his apparent self-destructive character.
The ‘Mike’ miniseries is available on Disney+. Each chapter offers a bearable duration, around 25 minutes, which facilitates its digestion. The narration is agile, with moments and cuts typical of video clip language. There are frenetic camera movements, at times abrupt and rushed, in a montage that shreds several parallel sequences, reminiscent of Guy Ritchie’s cinema (‘Snatch: Pigs and Diamonds’). Featured in the production is the filmmaker Craig Gillespie, responsible for the recommendable ‘Yo, Tonya’, another story of an athlete who got carried away by bad influences and ended up like the rosary at dawn. The scenes carried out by the «monologue Tyson», with moments looking at the camera, alternate with fragments of his spectacular existence over time. Sometimes the actor breaks the fourth wall for the benefit of a personal tone, something “Tarantinian”, which works in bursts and may not be a dish for all tastes. Television moments and those anecdotes that have made the boxer a legend with more shadows than lights are replicated. Tyson went through jail and various correctional facilities, his second home. He learned in prison to box in exchange for behaving well. Applying himself saved him from burning out, but eccentricity came with fame and the party was over.
‘Mike’ is the story of a successful outcast, an enchanting figure in American culture. As he goes up, he slams down. Stars who become grotesque beings, get into trouble, sometimes delirious, and end up being a caricature of the American dream. The series does not discover anything that we do not know in this regard. It illustrates the outrages of the athlete, well played mainly by a muscular Trevante Rhodes, made up for the occasion, whom we saw in ‘Moonling’. He is accompanied, among other faces, by an almost unknown Harvey Keitel, sporting a prominent bald spot in the role of the curmudgeonly coach who helped the boxer become a crack handing out slaps.
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