truly a masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2009)

raging bull is an absolute masterpiece, the acting, the script, the cinematography, all of the highest standards. de niro is excellent and gives a career defining performance as la motta, the fact that he put on a load of weight to play older la motta at the end only shows his dedication to make this role as real as possible, the speech at the end is my favourite piece of dialogue from a movie and he delivers it with heart wrenching honesty. raging bull is more a film about a man who boxes, rather than a boxing man(if you know what i mean) it shows how la motta who had all the tools to make it to the top, lost everything and the tragedy is he ends up a lonely fat old man. the fight scenes in raging bull are excellently shot and the fact they are in black and white, takes them to another level, often in the fights you get a first person view as the boxers fight, close up punches, sweat and blood, the fights with sugar ray are especially realistic. i don't feel raging bull would be the same without the films beautiful music which adds depth and emotion to every scene its on. overall raging bull is an excellent film, de niros best and scorsese best in my opinion. a true masterpiece.