An excellent film, but not even close to the brilliance of Taxi Driver.

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2000)

Raging Bull is a tragic movie, but for different reasons than what most people think. It is tragic simply because it is a wonderful piece of cinema marred by a completely banal and two-dimensional character. I am certain that the novel was much, much better than the film's screenplay, and that it more accurately portrayed La Motta's character. La Motta said upon seeing this film that he came across as an "uncouth, insensitive lout," and I couldn't agree more. In fact, he comes across as nothing more than that.
In every Scorsese film I've seen, the main character has always been someone the audience could and in a way had to attach to because they were so real. When Scorsese got into their head, you saw exactly what they were thinking and understood them because they were just like you and me: human. In Raging Bull, La Motta has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever, making him inhuman and, as he is called many times during the film, an animal.
Sure, he can love people and care about them, and yeah, he is pretty funny, but what happens to those qualities during the movie? He beats his wife and fights his own brother based on his belief that the two were having sex and
she ends up divorcing him. During a scene in a bar when he's doing stand-up, he genuinely insults a guy and is laughed at out of nervousness more than out of amusement.
De Niro was flawless as La Motta, but at the same time, I couldn't help thinking throughout the film that he was just as good or better when he portrayed Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. The only reason that La Motta is even tolerable is because De Niro dedicates himself completely to the role. However, no one but the scriptwriter could have made La Motta a three-dimensional character. As a matter of fact, I think people see this as De Niro's finest work simply because he made the main character someone you could at least partly identify with and not feel completely detached from.
It is incredibly ironic to me that Travis Bickle, a completely fictional character, is more real in Taxi Driver than the real-life character Jake La Motta is in Raging Bull. What's interesting to note is that in Goodfellas, Scorsese seems to learn that perhaps portraying someone with complete accuracy doesn't always provide for a great story, and therefore fictionalized the story of Henry Hill and made him someone that the audience could accept and connect with.
Raging Bull is an excellent film, but it is nowhere near the level of excellence that Taxi Driver and Goodfellas are. If De Niro hadn't completely committed himself to the role, and if he wasn't so good at romantic scenes and giving angry glares at people, this movie would almost be unbearable based on the main character alone. If you decide to see this movie, and you should, just remember that you're only seeing part of a real human. Look at him as a fictional character with no redeeming qualities, and you will enjoy this movie much, much more.