Created by Steven Rogers ( “I, Tonya”) , “Mike” represents an unauthorized depiction of Tyson’s life which has attracted the ire from the man himself , culling from not only upon the reported record but Tyson’s one-man biographical display, “Undisputed Truth, inch using Rhodes replicating that material being a kind of interstitial stuff to hold the production with each other.
The device proves a little too meta for its own great, creating an uneven drama that despite Rhodes’ impressive footwork at best delivers a split decision.
The narrative begins with Tyson’s hardscrabble early years, before his discovery simply by gruff trainer Cus D’Amato (Harvey Keitel) put him on a path to boxing glory, the enormous prosperity that went with it and an almost Shakespearean fall, including Tyson’s excesses and exploitation by those around him.
As constructed, “Mike’s” 30-ish-minute episodes essentially create windows directly into different players in the evolving story, along with Tyson periodically striking through the fourth walls to directly address the audience or narrate.
Rhodes (“Moonlight”) admirably captures Tyson in all his contradictions, from his imposing physicality to their emotional vulnerability, in a manner that goes beyond just mimicking his tone of voice and adopting their mannerisms. The intelligently chosen cast also includes Laura Harrier as Robin Givens and Russell Hornsby as promoter Don King.
Still, “Mike” obviously wants to be more than the biography, getting past the HBO film of the 1990s in order to contemplate matters associated with race, class plus sexual politics. The tonal shifts thus render it much more of a hit-miss occasion, with the most effective show focusing on Desiree Washington (Li Eubanks), the beauty-pageant contestant in whose rape accusation against Tyson brought disapproval from his defenders, prompting her in order to hauntingly say from the happy teenager that will she was, “Desiree’s gone, and she is not coming back. ”
Tyson has remained in the public eye, with regard to everything from marketing edibles to an rupture on an airplane in April. ABC weighed within last year with the documented “Mike Tyson: The Knockout, ” and in some values that effort which series from Disney corporate sibling Hulu complement each other.
Hulu continues to be on a notable roll with fact-based miniseries, including “The Dropout, inch “Dopesick” and “Pam & Tommy, ” and “Mike” obviously fits nicely within that wheelhouse.
Around the plus side, the particular project’s shortish eight-episode format makes for a relatively breezy binge, as well as the broader issues that the particular producers highlight can theoretically benefit from becoming filtered through a more contemporary lens.
Still, using Tyson’s attempt to repackage his biography into a “show” as the central framing device conveys such a self-referential exercise this turns out to be. Perhaps essential it feels as if “Mike” scores a few powerful points but eventually doesn’t pack enough new into the fight plan to go the distance.
“Mike” launch Aug. 25 on Hulu.