Review of Raging Bull (1980) by Ben T — 21 Dec 2015

Raging Bull is one of Martin Scorsese's most iconic movies for good reason. Raging Bull is an absolute classic and one of the best movies ever. This is a boxing film but it's so much more. Robert De Niro gives one of the best performances of his entrie career.

He's likeable yet you hate him at the same time. His performance is very physically demanding as he had to gain a load of weight and then loose it all again for his next movie. There's a brilliant scene where Jake La Motta just breaks down and starts punching a wall and Robert De Niro gives it his all.

Joe Pesci is amazing as Jake's brother. I love how he's the voice of reason to Jake when he suspects his wife sleeping with other men, yet he's still a very violent and aggressive character.

The rest of the acting is great but it's those two leads that carry the movie. This film is amazingly directed by the fantastic Martin Scorsese. This is full of all his trademarks and he did an amazing job with this film.

The writing is fantastic, a lot of the dialogue leads to very tense seems which is great. The cinematography is excellent, the scenes in the ring are magnificent to look at and there are lots of brilliant long takes.

The opening of this film is visually stunning, it's this brilliant wide take with the classical music, it's just amazing. The boxing scenes are brilliant. If you thought the stuff in Rocky or Warrior was brutal they are nothing compared to the boxing scenes here.

The boxing scenes are incredibly brutal and have you on the edge of the seat, especially the last boxing match. This film is also brilliantly edited, the film while it feels long it's still very well edited.

I also love the ending, the speech from De Niro, the music it's all just amazing. Raging Bull is a fantastic movie and it's one of Martin Scorsese's best. If Rocky is the most iconic boxing movie then in my opinion Raging Bull is the best.

A+.