Raging Bull

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2014)

This biopic about real life boxer Jake La Motta who is portrayed by Robert De Niro. The movie directed by, you guessed it, Martin Scorsese. The movie starts out with the greatest opening credits sequence of all time, it immediately sets you up for the mood of the movie, introducing you to the atmosphere set in black and white, the music, and Jake La Motta. He may not be speaking but just by the mannerisms you get the vibe of a cold heated, violent man, and in all honesty... he is a cold hearten violent man, you see this throughout the movie in another one of the greatest movie performances of all time again from De Niro. The other major characters are Joey and Vickie La Motta. Both performances are good but Joe Pesci is amazing as Joey the brother to boxer Jake La Motta. Joey and Jake whenever they're on screen together it's very interesting to watch. The way the two actors talk is like they're actually brothers, whether they're bickering or just talking it always feels natural. The movie's script is one of it's many high points. It's very well written that flows great despite needing to cover so many years of events. The movie's soundtrack is also a high point. A great thing that this movie was able to do was the ability to convey many emotions, the tension in the ring, the depressing aspect later in La Motta's life, and a (what I find) heartwarming scene when the audience is shown home movies of Jake La Motta, his wife and kids. The movie remains interesting because your able to witness the violent depressing life of a violent depressing man. Your able to see what to most would be something minor as a big deal in his world (for example when his wife says hi to other men at a restaurant). The boxing scenes are a highlight in the movie, most people may say there unrealistic but I don't care about it's realism, the fights are visually something great, very bloody and brutal also. In the final 15 minutes of the film you see Jake's life once he's retired boxing. Robert De Niro actually gained 60 pounds for those parts of the movie. But those final 15 minutes are actually quite sad, your able to see that his relationships have all fallen apart, his wife divorced him, has custody of his kids, and his brother wants no part of him. But yet he is at peace with himself as the biblical quote at the end explains.
Raging Bull is definitely one of the greatest movies of all time. Boasting one of the greatest performances ever, a marvelous sense of directing, great soundtrack, great script. All of this makes this movie a 9.6 out of 10.