A SLOW BURN THAT NEARLY GRINDS TO A HALT
Movie Review – “Black Mass”
Review by Ray Schillaci
The trailers, the damn trailers! They either give too much away or they don’t do the film any justice, or, in the case of “Black Mass”, they’re far better than the movie itself. The performances in this new gangland tale are brilliant from Johnny Depp to the minor characters, but the film itself suffers in pacing and tries your patience.
Of course, it’s unfair to compare it to Scorsese’s magnificent “Goodfellas”, but the film doesn’t even compare to Depp’s other two powerful crime dramas, 2001’s “Blow” and 1997’s “Donnie Brasco”, both being far more captivating, weaving great storytelling with dynamic performances.
But in director Scott Cooper’s “Black Mass”, the scales are off-balance with Depp delivering one of his most unsettling performances as James “Whitey” Bulger, Joel Edgerton as former FBI agent John Connolly, who created the unholy alliance between the crime boss and the FBI, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Senator “Billy” Bulger, the conflicted brother of the notorious gangster. It’s a fascinating tale of devotion, corruption, and power, although the execution just appears to lag. It’s straightforward storytelling that is actually eclipsed by other crime stories that are far more involving and that audiences are now being treated to by HBO (“The Sopranos”, “Boardwalk Empire”), Cinemax (“Banshee”) and Netflix (“Narcos”).
Cooper begins his tale with Bulger’s own men turned informants that eventually bring down. They’re a disgruntled lot that and you wonder if they looked up to him or just plain feared him, because, although resourceful, James “Whitey” Bulger was unpredictable, lethal, and capable of just about anything. As the movie portrays him, he was just as much at ease killing someone with his bare hands as he was putting a hit on a man or woman.
We have an over-zealous FBI agent, John Connolly, desperate to not only make a name for himself, but also to reconnect with his “Southie” (South Boston) past, play with the other boys he looked up to. Problem being, those boys had grown up and were practicing larceny, assault, forgery, hijacking and armed robbery, and their leader, “Whitey” Bulger was not only a loose canon, but had been subjected to fifty LSD trips in prison. But none of this seemed to matter when it came to the “big picture” – bringing down the Italian mafia that was muscling in on Bulger’s territory.
Connolly thought he could use Bulger to infiltrate the mafia, having him think it would be to Bulger’s advantage, but laying down rules that Bulger would never truly follow. Bulger proved far more craftier than Connolly or his co-hart ever imagined. What proceeded was murder and Bulger reaping all the benefits that came with it: protection as an informant of the FBI.
Throughout it all, we catch snippets of Bulger’s family life, his relationship with his mother, his wife, his devotion to his son, and his love for the neighborhood. But those glimpses feel obligatory rather than organic. We see the proudness of South Boston, but never really feel what’s trying to be conveyed.
Then there is the proverbial “elephant in the room,” Depp’s makeover. Over the years the actor has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, and it has become tiring, hampering his performances and his promise. With the part of James “Whitey” Bulger, Depp plunges into a persona that is possibly one of the most gripping and unsettling performances since Robert Mitchum in “Night of the Hunter”, but hampering this remarkable actor with vampire-like contacts and a discolored front tooth nearly takes the wind out of a near-Oscar-winning role.
The rest of Depp’s features are so realistically hard and worn, one almost forgets who they are actually watching on the big screen. It’s a shame that wiser minds did not advise against the radical change with the eyes or tooth since they had nothing to do with the actual character. One could only think that the purpose was to deliver more of a character than the authentic criminal being portrayed.
The rest of the cast fairs far better in the make-up department. Even the down and dirty bench men have a far more realistic approach to their personas. And as mentioned before, all give excellent performances. Some are absolute stand-outs: “Whitey”’s uncomfortable confrontation at the dinner table with agent John Morris (David Harbour) over a “secret recipe” or “Whitey”’s visit to John Connolly’s wife as to why she will not join them for dinner – truly chilling.
There are plenty of well-staged sequences that will have people talking. The problem being, they don’t all add up. They don’t gel into the type of organized crime story that holds us throughout its duration. Something is amiss in Scott Cooper’s film that keeps it from reaching greatness. Sitting at mass is nearly as indistinguishable as sitting at a Southie bar and yet, the violence is given an impressively quick and nonchalant feel that lends the kind of authenticity that one wishes the whole film carried.
Perhaps my expectations were far too high after seeing the trailers. Johnny Depp’s evil gaze and nasty smile set against a backdrop of fast cuts and pounding music. This was the film we thought we were seeing going in. Instead, we get outstanding performances in a matter-of-fact gangster story (albeit fascinating) that takes its time with its pacing but not its story or its characters. Too bad Sidney Lumet (“Serpico”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Prince of the City”) is no longer with us to have molded “Black Mass” into what it could have been.
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Release Date: September 18, 2015
Run Time: 122 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
