Review of Black Mass (2015) by Brett H — 27 Oct 2015

Black Mass is the gripping story of true-life Boston mobster/informant, Whitey Bulger and it is thankfully the best performance we've seen from Johnny Depp in YEARS! The film follows the basic formula of a mob movie with loads of brutal violence and far too many characters to keep track of, but Scott Cooper's direction never glamorizes this lifestyle and you fear Bulger's presence instantly.

The cast is a who's-who of familiar faces and the ensemble is A-class with the likes of Kevin Bacon, Rory Cochrane, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Harbour, Dakota Johnson; the list goes on. Joel Edgerton also does stellar supporting work and his character shocked me on more than one occasion with his questionable loyalties to Bulger and his willingness to be corrupted.

Being a somewhat biography of Bulger's life, the narrative spans numerous years in a flash and I was perfectly okay with this choice as they couldn't possibly pack everything neatly into a 2-hour film (though the original runtime was 3).

The shining star is most definitely, Johnny Depp's chilling performance and his brilliantly done make-up will stick with you, consistently making everyone uncomfortable with his reptilian, predator-like demeanor.

There aren't many flaws apart from there being too many characters and not enough screen-time for them (most notably, Corey Stoll who shows up WAY too late in the game) but the quality of the actors make their bit-parts feel memorable.

I am thrilled that we have Johnny Depp back providing an actual PERFORMANCE again and this is one of his only films that he's actually watched and he's said this is his favourite. Hopefully a sign that great work is yet to come and he can leave Tim Burton behind!