CHAMPS (Bert Marcus). 91 minutes. Opens Friday (March 13). See listings. Rating: NN
Where to watch: Netflix, iTunes
The personal lives and legacies of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins are inherently compelling, but in compiling their stories, Champs goes for something more. Directing a critical eye at the sociology and predatory business of boxing, the doc is periodically interesting but also unconvincingly broad.
Denzel Washington, Mary J. Blige, Mark Wahlberg and 50 Cent all briefly do mouthpiece duty for the film’s take on boxing, exposing how the little-regulated sport exploits fighters from disadvantaged backgrounds and fails to counsel those who get rich on how to keep their millions.
Writer/director Bert Marcus structures his points around the three legends, all African Americans born into brutal poverty who used their fists to make a grab for the American dream. Their similarities end there.
While Tyson and Hopkins both came to boxing from inside the prison system, Holyfield was a pretty straight dude. And of course, Hopkins never stooped to Tyson’s brand of infamy (tigers, rape charge, bankruptcy). Champs bundles the three together, but its angle only directly applies to Tyson, the film’s producer.
You might suspect that Tyson is funding his own PR effort, appealing to audiences to believe in his reform. But he’s a moving presence, his voice trembling when he recollects a horrifying childhood and again when he unleashes a storm of self-hate over his subsequent behaviour.
