After years in production limbo with a string of re-writes and personnel changes, the long awaited biopic of notorious Boston crime lord Whitey Bulger has finally had its release to a lukewarm critical response. Starring an often-unrecognizable Johnny Depp in the lead role, Black Mass is a rare beast indeed: functioning as both a gripping, enjoyable movie and a tremendous disappointment simultaneously.
Hailed as Johnny Depp’s return to ‘serious’ acting after a decade of playing Willy Wonka, Jack Sparrow, Tonto and the Mad Hatter, his commitment to the role is admirable. Though as hidden away behind wigs, teeth and prosthetics as any of the goofier roles he’s played of late, his Bulger broods with a sinister malevolence that frequently spills into fatal acts of brutal violence. Depp brings a level of intensity to these scenes, and those in which his threatening tactics are more implicit, that plays perfectly. Perhaps even more impressive is Joel Edgerton as John Connolly, the naïve South Boston FBI agent whose relationship with Bulger serves as the backbone to the film. In terms of acting, the cast is almost faultless with strong (though much underused) performances from Peter Sarsgaard, W. Earl Brown, Rory Cochrane and Corey Stoll. The only bum note comes with the bizarrely miscast Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger, the Boston Senator and brother of Whitey, whose own political career is under threat.
Director Scott Cooper also does well with a tame script, creating an atmosphere of rigid tension that continues mercilessly throughout. Despite having significant talent on both sides of the camera, overall Black Mass is a huge disappointment. A running time that just reaches 120 minutes feels barely enough to scratch the surface of Bulger’s story; we’re left with a sketchy, fragmented and often shallow recounting of a tale worthy of much, much more.
There are few stories in the history of American crime as fascinating as Bulger’s. As the boss of the Winter Hill Gang - an Irish Mob Crew that formed part of Boston’s Organised Crime scene - he was wanted for 19 murders (although is rumoured to be responsible for over 45) and was astonishingly revealed as an FBI informant in 1975. He spent 16 years on the run, with 12 of those on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list, before being arrested in 2011 at the age of 81.
But a script that doesn’t offer much more depth than an above-average reconstruction on the History Channel, butchers what could have been a story to rival the classics in the genre. Most disappointingly of all is the character of Bulger himself. Through no fault of Depp’s, he is too remote to either hate or love; he’s psychotic, but unlike the similar character of Tommy from Goodfellas (from which Black Mass is heavily influenced), who retains a sense of humanity despite senseless acts of violence, Bulger is just two-dimensional. It’s as if someone remade The Godfather with the focus on Luca Brasi. An emphasis shift to give Edgerton’s Connolly the main attention, with Bulger serving as a supporting character, would have served these characters better, though still made waste of the source material.
Black Mass has all the hallmarks of a film written by committee, with the years of re-writes clearly taking their toll on a film that cannot decide what it wants to be, and resultantly ends up being nothing much at all. There are certainly moments of individual brilliance in both direction and acting, but there’s a lack of focus that sees it rumble along entertainingly enough, but never really shift into the gear it needs to fulfill its potential. Once the closing credits roll, it’s almost unfathomable to think how little the writers have made you care about the fate of any of the characters, or of the outcome of the story itself.
In theory, Black Mass is one of the films of the year, and, had I only theoretically seen it, this review would be much more positive. Unfortunately I actually watched it with my eyes and my face. Although there was nothing glaringly wrong with Black Mass, there wasn’t a huge amount right about it either.
Black Mass in showing in Nottingham cinemas now.
Black Mass Trailer
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