#Wiki slapdash tv

Insert a raunchy montage of Tyson’s sexual exploits here, throw in a scene of Tyson getting taken advantage of by King or D’Amato there, add in a moment where a close family member tells Tyson that he’s being mistreated, and voila, you have your biopic! But without letting the images speak for themselves, Mike constantly undermines itself with self-reflexive commentary, not letting its most pivotal beats a chance to breathe without some sort of meta interjection.įrom the excessive narration and the slo-mo imagery to the exhausting camerawork and the on-the-nose soundtrack, Gillespie’s elaborate Scorsese cosplay is about as off-putting and clumsy as the writing’s forced levity and allergy to subtext.Īlmost every single dramatic moment is spelled out, to the point where you could anticipate from a mile away any given scene you’d expect to see from a work of this genre. Such a heavy-handed style might sort of be the point, an aptly abrasive way of emulating the thrust of Tyson’s experiences. This blunt framing device - of Tyson addressing an anonymous audience, speaking directly to the camera, and gesturing at the slideshow of photos behind him - technically riffs on Undisputed Truth, Tyson’s one-man show from 2013, but ultimately stands as a lazy and overbearing attempt to immerse us in his struggles with the limelight. The first crucial mistake Mike makes is having each episode feature cutaways of an adult Tyson recalling details from his difficult childhood and relationships to an auditorium filled with nameless, faceless spectators. With Mike, however, Gillespie and Rogers simply apply the same method they used for I, Tonya, reconciling Tyson’s contradictions as both an abuser with material power and a victim of circumstance to sensationalist, slapdash effect.

Simpson, which effectively captured the multifaceted cultural scope of football star O.J. Or Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski’s compelling 2016 miniseries The People vs. Take, for example, Michael Mann’s commanding depiction of boxing legend Muhammad Ali during the social upheaval of the ‘60s in 2001’s Ali. Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing: Despite Tyson’s criticisms, it’s still possible to take artistic liberties and produce a thematically rich tale out of how race, class, and gender affected his status as a young Black male athlete in America. The result is a thin and haphazard drama that does a disservice to the talent of its well-cast lead, and flattens the nuances behind Tyson’s complex background and tumultuous history. Told across eight chapters in the Hulu miniseries Mike, Tyson’s journey is a tragic, all-too-familiar portrait of unresolved trauma, the painful pressures of fame, and how the intersection of the two reinforce an unrelenting cycle of self-destruction and hubris.Īn Automatic KO: Collaborating for the second time with I, Tonya screenwriter Steven Rogers, filmmaker Craig Gillespie’s newest directorial undertaking, Mike, adapts the life of infamous boxer Mike Tyson, spanning from his upbringing in the mid-70s to the late 2010s. Boxing promoter Don King ( Russell Hornsby) stepped in to support Tyson in averting these crises, but his own opportunistic agenda created even more financial and personal issues for the prizefighting champion.

#Wiki slapdash tv

D’Amato even went as far as to act as a surrogate parent to the fatherless Tyson, a meaningful gesture were it not for D’Amato’s irony-free insistence that he’d help turn Tyson into “a beast” and “a monster.”Īs Tyson continued to embrace his celebrity lifestyle, a turbulent marriage to TV star Robin Givens ( Laura Harrier) and a credible rape allegation from beauty pageant queen Desiree Washington (Li Eubanks) quickly upended his momentum. Tyson’s prolific wins early in his burgeoning career earned him fame and wealth, launching the wunderkind from downtrodden obscurity into the bright and shiny American cultural spotlight. Fighting back seemed to be the easiest solution to the hate and hurt he faced, and the bloodier and harder his blows against his peers got, the stronger his determination to make a name for himself became.Īfter a few stints in juvenile detention, a teenage Tyson got the chance to take his street brawling to the ring with the guidance of renowned boxing trainer Cus D’Amato ( Harvey Keitel). Growing up in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyson dealt with brutal beatings from bullies as often as he received and witnessed verbal and physical lashings at home. The Pitch: Violence has shaped much of Mike Tyson ( Trevante Rhodes)’s life. The post Mike Review: Hulu’s Tyson Biopic Lands With a Thud appeared first on Consequence.