After seeing the teaser trailer some six months ago, I was pretty blown away at the on screen transformation completed by Johnny Depp in his latest effort "Black Mass". The film follows the true story of local Boston crime lord James Whitey Bulger. Having to wear over fifty wigs during shooting, Depp was required to wear a new hairpiece everyday of filming. The cast is large and diverse, many different faces with many different backgrounds and skills. Scott Cooper directs coming off the Christian Bale/Woody Harrelson thriller Into The Furnace, and does an adequate job moving the picture along, but doesn't add anything either. I try to write these reviews as an unbiased viewer, with no expectations one way or the other. I feel in reality this is probably impossible to accomplish and to do your best to try not to overthink it. Bulger is approached by FBI agent John Connelly played by Joel Edgerton about wiping out the Italians on the north side and setting up a beneficial relationship as they are two old boys from the neighborhood. This relationship is what drives the film and expands on the tonal setting and atmosphere of South Boston. There are signs and clear reminders of the hypocrisy John gets himself into, through his co workers, his wife, and his daily routine. Edgerton plays the man with absolute self righteousness and an egomaniacal world view, he can't be questioned because he's above question, he's with the FBI, he's a good guy. And just as the grey exists within Connolly, the writers don't make Bulger out to be a complete monster. There are shreds that still subtly permeate throughout the film, making it clear to anyone that has an interest, Bulger wasn't always this way.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Bill the brother to Depp's Whitey, the State Senator and white sheep of the family. His use throughout the film suggests his only place for being there is to move the plot along, which is fine but it's a poor job of character development. The film opens with John approaching him about getting in touch with his brother, to be able to assist each other in a mutually beneficial relationship. Bill washes his hands of it, and is mostly a background character of the film, and despite his A lister status, Cumberbatch really muddles a New England accent, it can't really be called Boston or even Massachusetts. Some surprises were subtle performances by Jessie Pleamons who plays Kevin Weeks who you've seen be interviewed if you're familiar with any Bulger documentaries or TV specials, and Rory Cochrane playing Bulger right hand man Steve Flemmi. Cochrane doesn't have much dialogue but makes his screen time worth it with some of the most sorrowful and deeply morose emotions sweeping across his face, especially at the murder of his character's step daughter. Pleamons who's best known for his work on Breaking Bad, plays the wheel man and muscle for Bulger, breaking noses, assisting in body disposal, and tending bar. He channels a southie version of Matt Damon if he wasn't such a genius in Good Will Hunting.
One of the themes that I wanted to touch on, was while watching the film an unsettling realization came to the surface. At the Saint Patrick's day parade we have all of the environmental elements intersecting in the film. The FBI working hand in hand with a local crime kingpin, narcotics distributor, murdering psychopath. Our national intelligence agency allowing these things to happen so that they could put away the Italian mob. The people we trust to keep us safe, handing us over to the wolves who'd do us nothing short of annihilation, and for what? Promotions? Money? An ego boost? And it's right there. Right in plain sight. Right where anyone who cares to look, will see how power and opportunity built their own version of the American dream. They let the devil loose so that they could catch what they deemed to be a bigger catch, in return they were responsible for dozens of murders and told themselves the ends justify the means. When in reality, that's never the case. Johnny Depp does wonders as Whitey Bulger and gives perhaps the performance of his career, I'm sure he'll be nominated for an academy award as it was a harrowing and spooky performance.
Ultimately while having interesting themes, solid acting, and an accurate environmental foothold Black Mass fails to deliver the full effect of a cinematic experience. It feels like a well done Scorsese imitation by a devoted professional fan. The few montage sequences reminded me of the many Marty pictures I've seen over the years. The direction had some pacing problems in parts and felt driven by Depp more than a sure handed director. Very few scenes have Depp absent from them but in those are veteran actors like Julian Nicholson and Kevin Bacon. Adam Scott is a very good and underutilized actor usually seen in comedies but is again misused here. He has a mustache and a fairly wavy New England accent and might have 7 total lines in a two hour film, he's supposed to be one of the main FBI guys investigating Bulger. He has no development, we barely know his name, no backstory, no understanding of who he is. Maybe I'm just picking at the lack of detail, and it's a movie after all, but this was apparent throughout. Many good actors not being used right or too many scenes that were frivolously used and didn't tie into the story and the ones that did didn't give enough detail and depth. Black Mass was an entertaining but flawed look at a sociopath who isn't given but a sliver of humanity and destroys everything around him, simply to stay in power. Thanks Claudius. Fucking Shakespeare.
