Raging Bull: Critic Reviews

Though Raging Bull has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul.

De Niro and Joe Pesci are impeccable and Cathy Moriarty is iconically sexy.

The film that many consider the finest of its decade.

The most obvious basis for the film's claim to greatness lies in Scorsese's devastating critique of the very codes of masculinity that shaped him as a filmmaker, and in Robert De Niro's performance, through which that critique is made flesh.

It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women.

I can't pan it, but this 1980 fantasy biography of fighter Jake LaMotta seems unquestionably Martin Scorsese's weakest work, at least to that point in his career.

Martin Scorsese makes pictures about the kinds of people you wouldn't want to know.

There's no room for romanticism in the ring with inky black blood staining the canvas. During fight sequences, the director also uses a number of point-of-view shots designed to show the world, however briefly, from La Motta's perspective.

An underdog in its day and a classic today.

De Niro is always absorbing and credible, even when his character isn't.

The other night, my wife and I sat down to watch the new 30th Anniversary Blu-ray edition of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. I could scarcely believe it's been three decades since...

Raging Bull is a fascinating exploration of the mind of an emotionally disconnected man. It's brutal, crass and impossible to look away -- much like a real boxing match.

When has a performer as fully and uniquely sacrificed himself to the moving-picture cause as De Niro?

Um estudo psicologico brutal sobre um homem dominado pelo ciume, a inseguranca e a paranoia e que traz, alem da direcao inspirada e expressiva de Scorsese, tres atuacoes formidaveis por parte de De Niro, Pesci e Moriarty.

Interesting, rewarding and, at times, surprisingly episodic.

Robert De Niro's metamorphosis into boxing legend Jake La Motta (AKA the Bronx Bull) is one of the most impressive acting transformations on celluloid.

Among the greatest films of the 1980s, but not Scorsese's best.

Martin Scorsese's luminous study of a man at war with his own nature remains undimmed after almost 30 years.

This savagely authentic film about flawed masculinity is worth seeking out for another viewing if the summer's toothless blockbuster fodder is getting you down.

A classic that has everything to do with the capacity of even highly successful men to cope with life in general, and women in particular.

Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin turn in a soulful and intelligent screenplay, one that has blood dripping off the pages.

This is Scorsese and De Niro at their best.

For those who think Rocky is the greatest boxing movie ever made: think again.

This film does more than make you think about masculinity, it makes you see it -- in a way that's relevant to all men, not just Bronx boxers.