Review of Black Mass (2015) by Shpostal — 26 Sep 2015

Normally I'm a sucker for true life gangster movies, much like older generations dug Edward G. Robinson and George Raft imitating the Mafia, with colorful real life characters like Ben Siegel, Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino to draw inspiration from. It was the equivalent of bad boy western lore - charismatic outlaws like Billy the Kid, Black Bart, Butch Cassidy, and others that livened up a lot of conversations. It's not that we like the bad guy, but it is nonetheless exciting to watch for a few hours somebody running a terrible empire supposedly immune to prosecution. This is the spirit we look for in "Black Mass", and Johnny Depp, complete with ice blue contact lenses, puts in one of his best performances as a ruthless genuinely frightening James "Whitey" Bulger, the infamous South Boston Irish mobster who made a Faustian deal with FBI agent John Connolly to help eliminate the Italian Mafia in Boston and get all the spoils. That part did happen, and history of organized crime tells us that Boston was not that prominent for mob business, and was subservient to Raymond Patriarca, the godfather of Providence, who in turn reported to the Gambinos in NYC.

Joel Eggarton turns in a truly great performance as the corrupt FBI and boyhood buddy of Bulger and protects the criminal for years even though Bulger continues to murder people who cross him with apparent impunity until finally a new sheriff comes to town and starts digging into the mystery of Bulger's never being investigated, much less prosecuted.

It's hard to go too wrong with this strong true tale, and Depp is very convincing as Bulger, and gives the audience the creeps with those steely eyes and mystique that so few actors can muster. It seems Depp has a very dark side in real life to be this intimidating. Perhaps he thinks of past ugly times in life to conjure up the vibe he conveys as Bulger.

This is not quite in the category of organized crime movies as "Good Fellas", the Godfathers I and II, but is as brilliant as "The Departed", which was loosely based on Bulger. Therefore it is in good company, and Depp should get an Oscar nomination for his return to excellence.