The Bronx Bull (2016) User Reviews

Just watch Raging Bull

[catimeup · 4/10 · 1 October 2019]

On the whole this movie isn't all bad, but if you want to watch the story of Jake Lamotta you have to see Raging Bull. More of the pain, more of the rage, more of the intrigue that was Jake Lamotta. The acting and directing in Raging Bull is miles ahead of this film, but it's hard to compare an A class big ticket movie to something that is a B class limited release feature.

This movie has it's moments, but the shadow cast by Raging Bull is too great to get away from.

"I fought like I didn't deserve to live" - Jake LaMotta

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 18 September 2017]

The story line advanced here on IMDb for this picture states that "The Bronx Bull" chronicles his (Jake LaMotta) rise as a world class boxer and his struggles with life outside the ring. That would only be half right, LaMotta's rise as a world class boxer isn't touched on at all in this largely disjointed film about the former Middleweight Champion. That job is handled a lot better in Martin Scorsese's 1980 epic film "Raging Bull". Undoubtedly the 'Bull' connotation in the title is utilized to draw an audience for this film, but if you're like me, you'll be left unrewarded for the effort of tuning in to the picture.

It starts out interestingly enough, with LaMotta (William Forsythe) testifying before a Congressional Committee investigating the influence of organized crime in boxing, but aside from that brief scene, nothing ever comes of it. That right there would probably be a topic worthwhile enough to devote an entire picture to. Instead, the story takes a twenty year flashback to LaMotta's troubled youth, and a father (Paul Sorvino) who abused his son both physically and emotionally in order to experience some vicarious pleasure in seeing him beat people up.

From there on, the story moves forward in time through some of LaMotta's failed marriages and a dysfunctional relationship with childhood friend Rick Rosselli (Joe Mantegna), who's career high point seems to have taken him to making porno flicks. I have to say, as bad as this flick was, I'm intrigued enough to go out and get my hands on a copy of "Cauliflower Cupids" that was teased in this picture. It scores lower than "The Bronx Bull" by IMDb viewers, but it's got the real life Jake LaMotta in it, along with Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, and Tony Zale, with Jane Russell at the top of the bill. I say it's worth a look.

Well there's not much to recommend here, the story plays like a poorly written soap opera despite the caliber of some of the principal players. William Forsythe in particular does a fine job in portraying the title character, it's just that there's not much here to work with. Perhaps the biggest shocker for this viewer occurred when I went to look up the stats on Jake LaMotta himself here on IMDb, and discovered that the former boxer is still alive at ninety six years old as I write this! That's a knockout punch I didn't see coming.

Addendum**** It's just two days since I posted this review, and learned this morning that Jake LaMotta passed away yesterday, 9/19/2017. Another knockout punch no one saw coming. Rest in peace, Jake LaMotta.

the not-sequel

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 6 October 2021]

It's a biopic of the troubled boxing champ Jake LaMotta (William Forsythe). The story starts with him testifying against accusation of corruption and moves to 1937 Bronx where he's fighting in the streets. After his boxing ends, this troubles continue.

This was sold as the sequel to Raging Bull until a lawsuit forced the change. I can see a good reason for going to court. There is no way anybody from the first movie would want to be associated with this movie. The filmmaking is not even in the same league. It's a bad tracing job like a kid trying to draw the Mona Lisa. If one ignores the greatness of Raging Bull, this would be simply be a low rent indie. It does have some good actors and they do fine work here. On the other hand, the writing is very flat. The drama has no tension. There is no flow. It's just one scene after another. It's recitation of a life rather than a compelling story.

Not in the Same League As the Scorsese Film But I Enjoyed It

[Michael_Elliott · 13 January 2017]

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.

Awful

[weegaz · 2/10 · 5 July 2016]

I watched this movie that had some fairly well known actors in it and you would think it was their first role, the acting was so awful and wooden it beggars belief, the directing and producing was also equally awful, this had the potential to be so much better and it fails on every front, the story is all over the place, it jumps from one gap in Lamotta's life to another without bringing any of the parts to a meaningful conclusion, in the end you just give up with trying to follow it and feel like one of Lamotta's opponents, thoroughly demoralized and beaten.

2 out of 10, don't bother watching, Go and re-watch De niro's raging bull

Horrible!!

[dalhousie-982-770454 · 1/10 · 2 March 2019]

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.

Worst Movie About An Ex Boxer Ever (No Big Spoilers)

[tltanker182 · 1/10 · 29 June 2016]

The timeline is all over the place giving extremely vague details about what happened between the his boxing career. Very depressing, which is fine. Yet, with exceedingly poor attempts to be uplifting. This movie is more about making the audience pity a washed up drunk who doesn't turn his life around until his late 50's and still this film fails to tell that story. The courtroom scene leads you to believe it's a story about a boxer who got mixed up with the mafia, but then never really delves back into that plot. This is the most poorly told biography I've ever seen in film, it was trying to reach a multitude of platforms to express the life of an ex Middle Weight Champion and utterly disappoints on every one of those fronts. Spare yourself of this 94 minute waste of time, 94 minutes I wish I could have back.

A world champion boxer who defied the odds and lived to be 95 years old upon his death

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 18 March 2018]

How do you sum up a boxing legend in 94 minutes of film when the man actually survived all odds and lived to the age of 95? Simply put, you don't. This biography film shows Jake LaMotta, who won the World Middleweight Championship on June 16, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan, as a man with many regrets who felt used by so many people for his physical boxing ring prowess.

William Forsythe who played Jake LaMotta mostly after he retired from the ring did more than an admirable job in his portrayal as the brawler, professional boxer, stand up comedian, and womanizer who was married seven (7) times and fathered four (4) children. What was noticeably absent from this biographical portrayal was any of Jake LaMotta's ring fights, or his pension for assaulting the women in his life. Yes, the film did reflect somewhat how jealous Jake could get, but overall this portrayal of Jake LaMotta which mainly focused on his latter years showed a man with no true friends, only people interested in capitalizing on his former fame. This biography reflected a softer side of the ring brawler Jake LaMotta.

There is a great supporting cast in this film all adding value to the Jake LaMotta biography. It is well worth the watch and as such I have rated it 7 out of 10 which is slightly higher than the existing IMDB rating average

A needless and poorly made sequel.

[terrywatt375 · 3/10 · 15 August 2022]

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.

The Bronx Bull

[kamikaze-4 · 6/10 · 1 January 2021]

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.

Raging Bull II

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 27 February 2018]

This is a biopic of Middle Weight Champion of the World, Jake Lamotta who fought from 1941-1954. The film opens up with his testimony to congress under the Kennedy years and flashes back to his teens when he first became a fighter. It then jumps to 1967, 68, then 1982, skipping the whole reason why he was famous.

Most of the film takes place after his retirement. It shows a man attempting to avoid working for the mob while having all mob friends. He lived his life with two regrets: The kid he killed as an amateur and the fight he threw to Billy Fox.

The acting was great. William Forsythe was convincing even through that transition from teen actor playing him , to his adult self wasn't smooth because the younger self didn't look nothing like William Forsythe.

Story about a boxer without much boxing.

Guide: F-word. Stripper nudity.

An engaging biographical movie on sports history

[Movie-Scene-by-Temo · 8/10 · 5 April 2019]

He grew up being a fearless boxer in betting street fights because what he faced at home was worse if he didn't win-brutal, inhumane beatings by his father. Not surprising Jake LaMotta ended up in juvenile detention for attempted theft, and under the tutelage of a catholic priest learned how to take his raw boxing talent to a competitive level. LaMotta turned pro at 19 and the iconic Raging Bull, also known as the Bronx Bull, was officially launched on the world.

Multi-talented, numerously awarded filmmaker and Grammy nominated music producer, Argentinian-born director Martin Guigui (9/11, Beneath the Darkness) brings his musical, acting, writing expertise to this project. There is a rich use of music to enhance the message plus set the era in the audiences mind, well accompanied by setting design and camera focus. For many this movie is seen as a complement to the Academy Award-winning film Raging Bull starring Robert deNiro which portrays LaMotta's life as a fighter. The Bronx Bull is about LaMotta after the ring: many marriages, dysfunctional relations with his children and father, good friendships and financial hardship.

The young Jake is played brilliantly by Iranian-Australian Mojean Aria (Aban & Khorshid), a man who is creating a career around conscious and progressive acting; the older, retired LaMotta is played by a screen veteran of dark, threatening roles, William Forsythe (Hawaii Five-O, Check Point, The Untouchables (TV)). LaMotta's uncompromising dictatorial father is Paul Sorvino whose authoritative figure is seen in major Italian Mafia films (Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in Queens) while life-long best friend, street-fight-arranger and later porn film producer among other businesses is played by Joe Mantegna (The Godfather: III, Criminal Minds (TV)). Despite his vast contribution to LaMotta's career, we see too little of the priest Father Joseph, played by Ray Wise (X-Men, Star Trek, Mad Men (TV)).

An engaging biographical movie on sports history which humanizes a person whose face in the public was one of violence, but whose intentions were not. LaMotta's mercurial temper out of the ring put him in trouble with the law and the people around him, but his sense of humor and conversation skills put him in a good place with the ladies and audiences as a comedian and speaker later in life. He is known as one of the few who stopped the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson, although it took six matches to eventually do so, by which time LaMotta jokes he'd almost developed diabetes. Ninety-six now, the former World Middleweight Champion with an impressive career record of 83 (wins)-19 (losses)-4 (draws) with 30 knockouts, lives with his seventh wife and is still coherent and quick witted.

BRONX BOMBER

[mmthos · 5/10 · 9 June 2022]

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.

Bronx bull

[bvsc · 15 December 2018]

When you click on this movie you expect more then 10 mins of boxing. It's not a good movie whatsoever. It is the worst movie I can remember watching since Batman and robin.

Not a Raging Bull Sequel, Its Better

[wynkatt · 8/10 · 21 April 2017]

Academy Award for William Forsythe. He was believable and played the part to a T. De Nero should take some acting lessons from Forsythe., and a damn good movie. The Continuity seemed a little shaky at times, therefore I couldn't give it a 10. I learned a lot more about Jake Lammata, than I did with Raging Bull. I would Highly Recommend this movie if you are a fan of Boxing.