The Bronx Bull

I'm not quite as enthralled with Raging Bull as I was years ago. Mostly because it is a pretty stark depiction of a violent man. However, Raging Bull still holds up as a great movie.

Anyway, I threw The Bronx Bull into my Netflix as queue filler, not expecting much. And not much is exactly what I got.

I will say The Bronx Bull did make a smart choice in avoiding the years of LaMotta's that Raging Bull covered. To try and remake Raging Bull would have been foolish. Thus, The Bronx Bull storyline concentrates partly on LaMotta's pre-professional boxing years and largely on LaMotta's life from the 1960's through the 1980's.

With Raging Bull, the production spent a visible amount of time and money recreating New York City circa late 1940's through the early 1950's, with plenty of location shooting. The Bronx Bull fails to capture any of the flavor of NYC because many of the exterior shots look like they were filmed on non-descript studio backlots.

Raging Bull also kept the scope small in terms of the characters. The story concentrated the focus on Jake LaMotta, his second wife Vikki and his brother Joey. As a result, the viewer became invested in these three characters and what happened to them. The Bronx Bull has LaMotta interacting with a dozen plus secondary characters, each for 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there. The focus is so spread out you barely have time get acquainted with any of these people as they flow through LaMotta's life, much less care about them. In addition, while The Bronx Bull is populated with a lot of cast members I have enjoyed in many other things, virtually all of them are way past their prime, few of them are even trying in terms of the acting and all are clearly coasting here for a paycheck.

Beyond all this is the story The Bronx Bull has chosen to tell. Granted, Jake LaMotta as portrayed in Raging Bull was a very violent, bleak persona. Perhaps that's how LaMotta really was in real life. However, with Raging Bull, you had the characters of Vikki and Joey (along with the great performances of Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci, not forgetting DeNiro as LaMotta back before DeNiro stopped trying and began coasting for a paycheck) along with the wonderfully filmed fight scenes in addition to the location shots. The Bronx Bull largely tells the story of LaMotta post-boxing, depicting him as a still-violent, charmless drunken has-been. Perhaps that's also how LaMotta was in real life after his boxing career ended, but not compelling as the subject of a movie. Particularly since the after the fall period of LaMotta's life had already been touched upon at the end of Raging Bull.

William Forsythe gives a one-note performance as LaMotta, a performance which adds nothing to how LaMotta was portrayed by DeNiro in Raging Bull. I'm assuming The Bronx Bull was made for RedBox or direct-to-streaming. It certainly doesn't come across as a movie with a decent budget. Even within those parameters, the flick just plods along to no particular effect. Forgettable and unnecessary.

Biopic starts with Lamotta testifying at a hearing on corruption in the fight business, skips back to his street fighting boyhood and his father's "tough love" to make him into a professional boxer, then jumps to his difficulties adjusting to ordinary life after being a star multiple time world middleweight champion. Good opportunity for character actors to really take the spotlight and shine, and they avail themselves to full advantage, with deep characterizations and good interactions.

Good watch.

The Bronx Bull (2016)

*** (out of 4)

When this film was originally announced the producers decided to call it RAGING BULL II so that it would stir up a media storm, which it did. This also gave the film a lot of negative press from people screaming that Martin Scorsese's masterpiece didn't need a sequel. Well, THE BRONX BULL eventually got made and released and there's no doubt that one could consider it a direct sequel. The film takes place as Jake LaMotta (William Forsythe) has retired from boxing and we see his many lows that would haunt him.

THE BRONX BULL very well could have been called RAGING BULL II. Is this a masterpiece like the Scorsese film? Not even close. If you go into this expecting the same type of picture then you're bound to be disappointed. I really wasn't sure what to expect from the film and at first I was a little nervous but I must admit that I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Yes, there are many flaws throughout the picture but at the same time we've got a terrific cast of characters and the film also catches us up on what happened to LaMotta after the ring (a subject just briefly touched upon in RAGING BULL).

What I was most impressed with were the performances. I thought Forsythe was extremely good in the role of LaMotta and you can't help but be impressed because you really do feel as if you're watching a man who has lost his soul. I really thought the actor did a very good job at showing how hot-headed this guy was and how he could just snap in an instant. We've got a lot of famous faces in nice supporting roles including Paul Sorvino who plays LaMotta's father, Joe Mantegna as the best friend and we get the likes of Tom Sizemore, Natasha Henstridge, Penelope Ann Miller, James Russo, Bruce Davidson, Cloris Leachman, Robert Davi and Mike Starr.

As I said, there are quite a few flaws including the story. The film jumps around through several decades and captures different moments in LaMotta's life after the ring but on the whole it's a bit uneven. I'd argue that the direction wasn't the greatest either but it was at least good enough to make sure everything held your attention. The film was obviously shot on a low-budget, which is clearly seen when they try to re-create some of the older times. Still, with all of that said, if you're interested in the LaMotta character then this film should keep you entertained. Just don't go in expecting something that it isn't.

I bought a glut of DVDs and some Blu-rays from a Dollar Tree. The Bronx Bull was one of them. Compared to what I bought, this was much better than a majority of the Dollar Tree blind buys. If you want to know what happened to Jake LaMotta after Raging Bull, you might have an interest in this film.

One thing about this film interests me. The film makers make a reference toward a forgotten film, Cauliflower Cupids that Jake was featured in. But there wasn't any mention of another film Jake was featured in titled Confessions of a Psycho-Cat. Blasphemy!

Not as bad as other reviewers say it is, but most likely this film will be forgotten in a few years.

This is my 1st ever review.This movie is so bad yyoull be shaking your head in disbelief.The timelines all over the place and the acting is atrocious.