Directed by: Scott Cooper
Written by: Mark Mallouk & Jez Butterworth
Cast: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson
Once upon a time there was a really fine actor who turned in some truly Oscar quality performances, but then, he got lost in ridiculous character roles where his true abilities were hidden under layers of costume and make-up. That’s not to say he wasn’t good at it, it just never allowed his true talent to shine all the way through. But here at last, in a gritty little crime drama called Black Mass, Johnny Depp finally breaks out of his long laid back slump into a flawless performance that shows us once again just how fine an actor he truly is. Oh, and I might mention that he brings some really brilliant actors and a great young director along with him.
Now the title might be somewhat confusing, because a Black Mass is usually acknowledged as a ritual inversion of the traditional Latin Mass celebrated during the Witches’ Sabbath and this film has nothing to do with religion or cult. It does however, have everything to do with the seedy underbelly of our legal system. Written by two former reporters, this New York Times and Boston Globe bestseller, is a true-life dark story of violence, double-cross, and corruption at the hands of two ambitious old friends on opposite sides of the law.
Here’s the storyline:
Beginning in the early 1970s and running through the 80’s in Boston. Ex-Southey resident and now FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) offers his childhood friend, homicidal Irish mobster James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp), a collaboration with the FBI aimed at eliminating a common enemy; the Italian mob. Shortly after the FBI puts their full concentration on the Mafia, the unholy alliance with Bulger begins to spiral out of control. With his protection firmly in place, “Whitey” is able to evade law enforcement, freely commit murder, consolidate his power base, and became one of the most ruthless gangsters in all of US history. It became the biggest informant scandal in Law Enforcement history.
This is a tightly wound piece of film-making filled with icy moments of in your face violence. Depp himself is seamless, never breaking character for a moment and scaring the audience with his cold sociopathic questioning of several characters. And when it comes, and you know it will, his violence is quick, cold and deadly.
Amid the “lived-in” faces of the cast of characters that Director Scott Cooper manages to seamlessly parade in front of us is a very good film about a very bad man. As to these characters themselves, stand out performances are presented by all, especially by Joel Edgerton as John Connolly, Benedict Cumberbatch as “Whitey’s” senator brother, and Dakota Johnson as his son’s mother.
So my take… This is not Goodfellas or The Departed, but it does come with the same tone and tension as those films. It’ll hold your attention from start to finish. You should like it, I did.
