"Tyson" is an explosive - mostly insightful - foray into the personal and professional life of the boxer as seen through the drug-induced eyes of director James Tobak (Exposed & Pick-up Artist).
Electricity ziz-zagged lthrough the air like a bolt of lightning whenever the larger-than-life Champion step into the ring.
In time, frenzied fans ended up riveted to the edge of their seats uncertain of the fighter's fate; after all, in view of Tyson's unpredictable conduct in the past, who knew what might next in the ring.
Although there were a number of knock-outs (thirteen of them in the 1st round) - on occasion - fights were brought to an abrupt halt due to Tyson's uncontrollable rage which often pushed him beyond the limits.
At one juncture, Toback highlights a title rematch with Evander Holyfield - and when he does - the experience is gut-wrenching as shocked fans witness the infamous ear-biting incident which shamed the former golden boy of yesteryear.
"I was in a rage. So mad, that I just had to hurt him," Tyson recalled in one intense reveal on the silver screen.
The fast-paced documentary proceeds to follow the troubled athlete from his days as a hoodlum on the mean streets at age fourteen to the current day as he ponders a return to the ring.
Yup, Tyson once held the world in the palm of his celebrated fist, but it all slipped away.
The phone would ring at four o'clock in the morning.
When Toback plucked it up - at first - there was an eerie pause.
"James?"
"Yeah, Mike. I'm here."
Then, the two pals would ramble on in a conversation that spanned topics from death, to murder and suicide, fame and money, and the state of the fight game.
From this venting, Tobak stumbled on the idea to craft a documentary on the life and times of the once-celebrated kid from the wrong side of the tracks who rose to the height of his game with dizzying success.
"When I heard him wheeze on the other end of the phone one night, I suddenly realized that Tyson had asthma."
Then, the underlying theme for the documentary evolved.
"That's the reason he went for a knock-out in the 1st round. Mike was afraid he'd run out of breath and that he'd better down his opponent as quickly as possible."
"My approach was psycho-analytical," Tobak noted to the rapt audience at the Magnolia Theatre the other night, where the much-anticipated film was being screened under the auspices of AFI Dallas.
For ten hours a day, over a five-day period, he interviewed Mike.
The reflections - Tysons's musings, his angst, what-have-you - were offered up by way of split screen images and in a montage that cleverly maneuvered a probing reveal.
In addition, old news clips and flashbacks were artfully juxtaposed, to spark the bio and move it along at an entertaining pace.
Early on, Tyson admitted that he owed his success to a mentor, who pushed him on unrelentingly.
"He'd always be saying - "You look good, Mike" - or "You're in great physical shape", things like that."
At first, Mike surmised his manager might be gay.
"I realized one day that he was just building my confidence. Making me believe in myself."
After following the trainer's advice explicitly in the ring, it did not escape Tyson's attention, that he won all the bouts in the wake of the man's precise hard-hitting boxing tips.
When he passed to spirit suddenly one day, Tyson was devastated.
"My whole world fell apart," he recalled sadly.
Shortly thereafter, fast-talking promoter - "Don King" - breezed into the arena.
Tyson didn't have any kind words for the high-profile fight-man who took advantage of Mike in more ways than one.
"That serpentine piece of trash stole from me," he hissed into camera.
The Robin Gibbons fiasco was also fleshed out, too, in spite of the fact,the territory has been well-mined.
In one funny scene, Mike & Robin are caught in a sit-down interview with Barbara Walters.
As Gibbons poured her heart out about Tyson's rages - and terrible mood swings - the camera panned to Tyson who - not once - offered up a word in edgewise.
No, he sat meek as a lamb.
At one point, Walters is captured glancing at Tyson with a look that seems to say:
"Are you going to take this sitting down, Mike?"
"I knew they wanted me to get upset and fly into a rage. It was a set-up. I wasn't going to fall for it," he lamented.
On the subject of sex and relationships, Mike noted for the record:
"I like to wound my prey. Then, dominate."
In fact, Tyson - in some respects - is kind of kinky.
Tobak giggled that the buffed boxer once slept totally naked with just his prize belt on.
Tyson is potent filmmaking in many respects - but overall - falls flat.
In the final analysis, outdated filmic techniques hinderTobak's ability to impact the medium, or strike gold with his subject.
During a Q & A that was terribly cerebral - and self-indulgent - audience members were inclined to shut down.
In fact, before Tobak had the opportunity to field questions from fans, they'd all slipped out of the theatre to seek more entertaining climbs elsewhere on the Festival grounds.
Maybe those LSD trips - which he admitted bummed him out so many years ago - have had a more lasting impact than he'll ever know.
It was evident to film buffs present, though, that Tobak's lost that magic touch!
