Review of Raging Bull (1980) by Cjhunt — 14 Apr 2015

This film is bad.

Of course Martin Scorsese is an incredible director. That said, how can you watch a film that is over two hours and every moment of that film, see no likeable characters. No one to root for. Jake La Motta is an incredibly unlike-able character. That is where the problem lies. The 2 is for the music, was with all MS films, it is incredible.

I have seen this film many times, I might add, over the years, to try to find what people love about it. I've had different versions bought for me as gifts. It is the only Marty movie I don't watch. Anymore.

The film is so long, it feels like you are going through an ordeal just watching it. It is very difficult to watch La Motta smashing up his wife until she almost dies, watching him lech and rape under aged girls.

The fact is, this film is guilty of feeding into a myth about famous people being great despite in this case incredible proof to the contrary.

Also the Black and White does nothing to breathe life into the picture, It just plain doesn't work in '1980' - I know full well that this was done to wash out any glamour from the film, this aim in commendable but making a film about a man who should have been locked up and the key thrown away is not. He must have made a mint from this and for that Marty should feel ashamed.

Goodfellas for example features a lot of unlike-able people, but it also shows them getting what is coming to them, however we are still able to enjoy some of the glamour that you can appreciate young impressionable kids were drawn to in the first place. The nice suits, the beautiful women, the music, the money, the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Goodfellas is a masterpiece whereas this is just a film of incredible length, woefully boring Pesante pace and painful to watch.