Black Mass
"Take your shot but make it your best. 'Cause I get up, I eat ya." - Whitey Bulger
James "Whitey" Bulger, one of the most notorious gangsters in American history and many people haven't even heard of him...until now.
Black Mass, directed by Scott Cooper, is the dark biopic film about Whitey Bulger's rise to infamy. Johnny Depp stars as Bulger who, to be honest, I couldn't even tell if it was Johnny Depp or a completely different actor.
^Whoa...Johnny, is that you?^ Boston, Massachusetts is the center scene of Bulger's gang, murders, and connections. The film starts out in an interrogation room with Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons) informing the FBI about Whitey.
^Jesse Plemons. There's so much putty on everyone's face! Why?!?!^
^Joel Edgerton^ ^Benedict Cumberbatch^
Connolly is given the assignment to take down the Angiulo Brothers and tries to get information about them from Whitey. Whitey doesn't want to be considered a "rat" but feels pressured to be the informant in order to protect his wife Lindsey Cyr (Dakota Johnson) and his son. Whitey gives out information and in turn he gets protection from the FBI as long as he does not commit any crimes. During the rest of the film, Connolly's boss, Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon), is growing more and more suspicious that Connolly is aware of Whitey's murders and other illegal activities (which Connolly is, of course). John Morris (David Harbour), another FBI agent that is helping with the case of the Angiulo Brothers, gets put into a situation in which he has to make a decision whether to break the law with Connolly or report him to McGuire. Unfortunately, Morris breaks the law.
^David Harbour, Adam Scott (who knew a goofball like Scott could do gritty drama?), and Joel Edgerton^
In the end, everyone gets what's coming to them. By the way, this is NOT a spoiler. This is a biopic. There are no real spoilers in biopics.
As it stands, Black Mass is a dark and gritty film that will make you cringe and applause the exceptional performances by the whole cast, especially Johnny Depp.
^Ding! Ding! Give this man a nomination for best actor!^
I'm just going to say that the main selling point for me to go see Black Mass was the acting. I saw the trailer and immediately thought 'Wow. This could be Johnny Depp's big break from those weird and annoying roles he's put in.'
^Yeah. I'm looking at you Willy Wonka!^
I am proud to say that once the end credits rolled, I was definitely pleased to see the GOOD Johnny Depp on screen again. The other actors and actresses in Black Mass were also entertaining and superb. Joel Edgerton could possibly be nominated for best supporting actor at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Every time I see Joel in a film, he gets exponentially better.
Surprisingly, Benedict Cumberbatch's performance was just mediocre compared to the rest of the cast. I'm not saying it was bad at all. I'm saying it just wasn't a stand out job. However, he did have less screen time than Johnny and Joel, so I can't completely discard his performance.
^C'mon Benny. Don't take it out on Johnny^
Also, I don't have the actual statistics on this, but Black Mass might just have beaten The Wolf of Wall Street with the amount of f-bombs used. There are A LOT in here. I honestly feel bad for the person who has to count them all.
^OK Johnny. OK! Geez! It's only 1 word! Just stop laughing!^
Another thing that I enjoyed about this film was the realism it possessed. I mentioned earlier that Black Mass will make you cringe. I really wasn't lying. Some of the murder scenes were really brutal and at times gave me the chills. I know it sounds weird, but I honestly could not look away. It was disturbing, but in a good way.
Despite all of the great things it had, I can't give Black Mass a perfect score.
^Please! Please spare me Whitey!^
Storytelling was a huge factor in why this film falls short. I sat in the theater watching what had happened to Whitey Bulger in 1975. His child was on life support and his wife wanted to pull the plug and end his misery. Whitey got mad, threw a table to the ground at the hospital cafeteria, and walked off the screen. Now it's 1981. I wanted to know what had happened to Whitey's mental state and if his wife is even in Whitey's life anymore or if he killed her. This happened like 3 or 4 times. Black Mass is 2 hours and 2 minutes, which I believe is a tad short for a biopic spanning decades of activity that could've been explained better in the movie.
Also, there isn't anyone to connect with in Black Mass. One of the factors that makes a good film, in my opinion, is the ability to create or portray a character in which the audience can connect with. Whitey is a despicable criminal, Connolly is a criminal FBI agent, and everyone else is just a little less despicable as Whitey. I'm sure many people can argue that gangster movies can't have any protagonists, but take GoodFellas for example. They are all terrible people, but Ray Liotta's character is a passive protagonist: Other than survival and greed, he doesn't want anything. He isn't the goal-driven protagonist that a lot of stories have.
^Don't worry Ray. I got your back^
Even though Black Mass, can't really express storytelling and pacing at it's best, I still recommend it to any film lover, particularly for Johnny Depp's performance as James "Whitey" Bulger. I neglected to mention that everyone had gotten caught within the same time at around the 90s. Whitey, however, was on the loose from the FBI and was finally caught in 2011. Yes, I said that correct. 2011. I bet many of you didn't even know that.
Pro
- Performances all around, especially Johnny Depp's
- Brutally real
- True story depicted well with the facts
- Much use of the word f***
- Storytelling and pacing
- No one to connect to/no one to root for
Watch the trailer here
Black Mass is in theaters now
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