By I am in a minority of people who did not enjoy Raging Bull. I understand why it’s good, I can see why people like it, and it’s possible a second viewing would give me a better chance to appreciate it. But I’m not going to give that chance. Why? Because I hate Jake LaMotta. He is one of the least likable characters to have ever been put to celluloid, and De Niro’s performance really drove that home.
I’m still not sure why someone thought another Raging Bull film with no De Niro would work, but it’s not like De Niro is in his prime at the moment anyway, so I guess it’s fair to give it a shot. Well… I can officially stop giving the film the benefit of the doubt, because neither of the first two stills inspires anything resembling confidence. I have no problem with the fact that it’s in color, but I do have a problem with the apparent lack of care that went into using that color.
There is a way to do ugly that would work for a movie like this, but the people behind Raging Bull II clearly didn’t figure it out. Instead of looking ugly in some kind of artistically viable way, it just looks cheap. But seriously, is anyone surprised? I think everybody knew it was going to be bad right from the word “Go.”
[Via The Film Stage]