A more restrained, less full-throated bull than I'd expected

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2001)

Here, in a nutshell, is why "Raging Bull" must renounce its claim to being a great movie: Jake's monologue at the end. It was lifted word for word from "On the Waterfront". It's not plagiarism: Jake is quoting, and we know he's meant to be quoting, from a movie he's seen, but that's the problem - those quotation marks. Had they been FAKE quotation marks, had Jake been quoting some non-existent movie, all might have been well. Had there been NO quotation marks, all might have been well. (It's not Scorsese's fault if the most fitting words Jake could possibly utter turn out to have already been used back in 1954; if the words fit seamlessly into his movie just as well as into the earlier one, he should simply steal them, and leave the attribution of credit for the fine print at the end.) The trouble is that when it comes time for a moment of truth "Raging Bull" is unable to speak for itself. Its reach exceeds its grasp - it's as simple as that.
There are things IMPRESSIVE about the film, like the brilliantly edited fight sequences, and De Niro's performance. The extended scene in which Jake suspects his wife of having sex with his brother is electrifying. But in context these aren't enough to sustain us. The fight sequences are interludes: over quickly, the outcome obvious from the first second, they're one-sentence summaries of the true dramatic action, which take place outside the ring. As they should be; but this means that they can't carry the film on their own however brilliant they may be (and they ARE brilliant). And DeNiro's performance needs something solid to spark off, which neither the story nor the other characters provides.
Another problem: it isn't really a black and white film. It's TINTED monochrome. (I can think of only one instance of Technicolor monochrome actually working: the afterlife sequences in "A Matter of Life and Death". There was no tinting. I think there's a good reason why tinted monochrome vanished off the face of the Earth in the late 1920s, while films were still being ROUTINELY made in black and white in the 1960s.) The title was in red, and some home movie sequences were in faded colour. This half-hearted use of colour just looked weak. Make up your mind: colour, black and white, or (if you're certain you know what you're doing) a combination of both. Not, for God's sake, a BLEND.
I was let down when "Raging Bull" turned out to be no more than an above average Scorsese potboiler, with some outstanding elements. I really wanted it to be the great film so many people say it is. A cinematic hero of mine, Michael Powell, greatly admired it, and to some degree inspired it. I wish it were worthy of him.