Netflix's four-part 'Tyson' docuseries gets critical reviews from Guardian and Hollywood Reporter
Netflix's four-part documentary series 'Tyson', directed by Floyd Russ, draws critical reviews. The Guardian calls it a lopsided, irresponsible hagiography, and The Hollywood Reporter finds it formulaic and short on new information.
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The story, neutrally told
Left · 2Netflix has released Tyson, a four-part documentary series about boxer Mike Tyson directed by Floyd Russ, and reviews from The Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter are critical. The Hollywood ReporterLC “Floyd Russ' four-part project follows the boxer from rough childhood to athletic stardom to decades of self-inflicted adversity.” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ The GuardianLC “Netflix's new four-parter on Mike Tyson is one of the strangest sports documentaries it has ever released” Read at The Guardian ↗ Left · 2The series follows Tyson from a rough upbringing in Brooklyn and juvenile detention, where he was introduced to the trainer Cus D'Amato, through his rise as the youngest heavyweight champion and a later life marked by drugs, losses and setbacks. The Hollywood ReporterLC “Russ traces the established facts of Tyson's life from his rough-and-tumble youth in Brooklyn to his juvenile run-ins with the law” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ The GuardianLC “It starts uncontroversially enough, recounting the extreme poverty and precarity of Tyson's upbringing” Read at The Guardian ↗ Left · 2It covers his marriage to Robin Givens, his rape conviction, his biting of Evander Holyfield, and the death of his young daughter Exodus. The Hollywood ReporterLC “interspersing the rape trial, the misadventures of Tyson's Holyfield fights, the tragic death of his daughter, his drug addiction and recovery and relapses and more” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ The GuardianLC “the death of Tyson's young daughter, Exodus, who perished in an accident aged four” Read at The Guardian ↗
Left · 2Tyson denies sexually assaulting Desiree Washington, who was 18 at the time and was a pageant contestant. The Hollywood Reporter says he offers only one-sentence denials, while Givens and Washington either declined to take part or did not respond to requests. The Hollywood ReporterLC “when it comes to the Indianapolis rape accusation, one-sentence denials are all you'll get. Since Givens and Desiree Washington either declined to appear or didn't respond to requests to appear, what Tyson says goes.” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ The GuardianLC “Tyson – who denies that he sexually assaulted the then 18-year-old pageant contestant Desiree Washington” Read at The Guardian ↗ Left · 2Both reviews note that Donald Trump appears as a talking head. In the Guardian's account, Trump defends Tyson, saying "[Tyson] is very truthful, and I think the truth hurt him in this case" and that the media was "rough on Mike". The GuardianLC “Trump – a man who, at least, has some apparent experience in this area – says "[Tyson] is very truthful, and I think the truth hurt him in this case"” Read at The Guardian ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “Donald Trump is a more useful talking head here than in Netflix's Hulk Hogan documentary” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ Left · 2Both reviews also describe Tyson taking a hallucinogenic toad-derived drug on camera and inviting the director to join. The Guardian describes the series as ending with this scene, while The Hollywood Reporter places it in the fourth episode. The GuardianLC “the former boxing champion taking the hallucinogenic drug DMT (or as he calls it, "the toad", after the animal that produces it), while sobbing and inviting the show's director to join him” Read at The Guardian ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “Tyson convinces Russ to join him in smoking hallucinatory toad venom” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗
Left · 1The Guardian's reviewer calls the series a "peculiar – some would say truly irresponsible – hagiography" that is lopsided and "deeply icky". They say it is "an exercise in not taking due accountability", and that interviewees speak of Tyson in terms akin to Nelson Mandela, with more voices doubting his guilt than crediting Washington. The GuardianLC “This peculiar – some would say truly irresponsible – hagiography of boxing superstar Mike Tyson”“There are a few voices who don't entirely discredit Washington, but many more who express scepticism that Tyson could have been guilty of the crime”“Tyson the docuseries is an exercise in not taking due accountability, and swerving your opponent's punches.” Read at The Guardian ↗ Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter's reviewer describes the series as "aesthetically formulaic" to the point of parody, with rudimentary editing, and says it offers little new because Tyson has told their story many times before. The review still finds Tyson's "vulnerable volatility" hard to look away from and praises interviews with Lennox Lewis, Buster Douglas and Tyson's children. The Hollywood ReporterLC “Tyson is four hours of storytelling so aesthetically formulaic that it borders on parody, and I don't think it will provide much new information or even fresh perspective”“Yet Tyson's vulnerable volatility is hard to look away from”“There are insightful conversations with the likes of Lennox Lewis and James "Buster" Douglas” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter notes that Tyson sometimes tells the director to drop a line of questioning, and that Russ leaves those moments in. It says many contentious aspects of Tyson's life are presented in a one-sided way, and that the series does not use outside voices such as Van Lathan to place Tyson in a wider historical or racial context. The Hollywood ReporterLC “Russ leaves in all those scenes of Tyson telling him to change the subject just to show where his limits are.”“many of the more contentious and controversial aspects of his life are presented in one-sided fashion” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left2 outlets
- Framing
- Both outlets are critical reviews. The Guardian leads with moral unease, calling the series a lopsided, irresponsible hagiography. The Hollywood Reporter leads with the redundancy of another Tyson self-portrait and with formulaic craft, while conceding it is watchable.
- Emphasis
- The Guardian stresses the handling of the Givens and Washington allegations, Trump's defence of Tyson, and the lack of accountability. The Hollywood Reporter stresses Tyson's long history of telling their own story, the conventional sports-documentary style, and Tyson steering the interviews.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Neither review presents a response from Netflix or the filmmakers. The Guardian does not discuss the series' craft or its interviews with other boxers, and the Hollywood Reporter gives less weight to the ethical objections about the allegations.
- Charged language
- “hagiography”“deeply icky”“truly irresponsible”“borders on parody”“excessive platforming”
- For example
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“The streamer has form in sporting hagiographies – tales told with questionable distance from their subjects, and all the objectivity of cold war agitprop.” — The Guardian
“most people who are grossed out by the excessive platforming of this severely damaged pugilist probably won't watch anyway” — The Hollywood Reporter
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right0 outlets
No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
What every side reports
- Netflix's Tyson is a four-part documentary series directed by Floyd Russ.
- It covers Tyson's childhood, boxing career, marriage to Robin Givens, rape conviction, drug use and the death of their daughter.
- Donald Trump appears in the series.
- Tyson takes a hallucinogenic toad-derived drug on camera and invites the director to join.
- Neither Robin Givens nor Desiree Washington gives an on-camera interview, according to the reviews.
Where accounts differ
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Whether the series is worth watching
- Left
- The Guardian calls it peculiar, sometimes compelling and truly irresponsible. The Hollywood Reporter calls it formulaic and not worth recommending on its merits, but says Tyson's volatility is hard to look away from.
Mike Tyson person
Both reviews portray Tyson as controlling their own narrative. Tyson denies the rape allegation and denies hurting Givens, calls himself "a spoiled brat" over the ring conduct, and sometimes ends lines of questioning. In the Guardian's account, Tyson ends by talking about how "special" they are.
“Tyson calls himself "a spoiled brat" for how he acted in the ring” — The Guardian
“it's only ever the version of Mike Tyson's story that he wants it to be — candid and emotionally raw one moment, stubbornly and annoyingly evasive the next.” — The Hollywood Reporter
Netflix organisation
Netflix is the streamer behind the series. The Guardian says it has form in sporting hagiographies, and the Hollywood Reporter compares the series with Netflix's Hulk Hogan documentary. No statement from Netflix appears in either review.
“The streamer has form in sporting hagiographies” — The Guardian
“Donald Trump is a more useful talking head here than in Netflix's Hulk Hogan documentary” — The Hollywood Reporter
Left2 articles
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The Hollywood ReporterLC · · Opinion
Mixed A weary, wry review that sees the series as a formulaic retelling of a story Tyson has told many times, yet finds its subject compelling.
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The GuardianLC · · Opinion
Tyson review – deeply icky … and that’s before Trump shows up
Critical A scathing review that treats the series as a lopsided, irresponsible hagiography that fails on accountability, especially over the allegations against Tyson.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right0 articles
No coverage yet.
- 13 Oct 08:01 First The Hollywood ReporterLC ‘Tyson’ Review: Netflix’s Docuseries Tells Mike Tyson’s Story as Only Mike Tyson Could Tell It, and Already Has Several Times Opinion
- 13 Oct 08:01 First The GuardianLC Tyson review – deeply icky … and that’s before Trump shows up Opinion
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
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