Black Mass *** (2015, Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, Jesse Plemons, Adam Scott) – Movie Review

Johnny Depp is good, not brilliant, but good, cast against type as real-life diabolical sociopath Whitey Bulger, the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston.

Director Scott Cooper’s fascinating but uneven 2015 gangster movie tells the true story of how Bulger used his FBI childhood friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) to cut a deal to become an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.

With lots to do, Edgerton is excellent as his character is seduced by the way of life of the very gangsters he is initially trying to bring down. In many ways he’s the central character of the story, certainly the most fascinating.

Benedict Cumberbatch also has lots to do as Whitey’s brother, state senator Billy Bulger, but he is far less convincing, either as an American or especially Whitey’s brother. Depp and Cumberbatch as brothers? I don’t think so! Cumberbatch is certainly smooth, creepy and sinister here, which is the right flavour, but he doesn’t seem anything like a state senator or a gangster’s brother.

For so long playing likeable, fun characters, Depp isn’t always totally persuasive as the cold, cunning Whitey, but he gets by on sheer acting know-how, and in some scenes he’s excellent too.

Outstanding in star support are Jesse Plemons as young hoodlum Kevin Weeks and Corey Stoll as the grim new FBI boss Fred Wyshak, who numbers Connolly’s days by his clean-sweep attitudes. And Kevin Bacon convincingly merges into the background as the FBI man Charles McGuire. These actors feel ‘real’, not just giving a performance.

It’s a good, interesting, entertaining mob movie, but it invites comparisons with Martin Scorsese’s work, and the comparisons don’t really flatter Black Mass. We’ve trodden these mean streets before, in better days, though another walk down them is still welcome if film-makers can find new ground. Somehow, Black Mass doesn’t quite, though it nearly does.

The three-decade time span of the saga is a ‘and then, ‘and then’ problem that the screen-writers can’t solve, resulting in an messy, episodic script, with its share of clichés, clumsy exposition and over-reliance on the boring device of continual cutting to police interviews with the various informers.

On the other hand there are some great dialogue scenes and some scary action moments, handled with considerable flair by director Cooper and bringing out the best in the actors. It’s at heart a meaty, complex tale, with big themes of loyalty and criminality, and in as much as the writers bring it to the fore, it’s riveting.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3103

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