Black Mass
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Written by: Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth - Based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill
Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, David Harbour, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard, Adam Scott, Juno Temple, W. Earl Brown, Bill Camp
Biography/Crime/Drama - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Sep 2015
Written by: Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth - Based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill
Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, David Harbour, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard, Adam Scott, Juno Temple, W. Earl Brown, Bill Camp
Biography/Crime/Drama - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Sep 2015
Black Mass showcases one of the world’s most recognizable actors underneath makeup making him unrecognizable. Black Mass covers somewhat recent events in an iconic city full of the mafia, murders, and federal corruption. In other words, Black Mass is ready made for the awards season; films like this habitually vacuum up acclaim. Yet, there is something missing in the finished product. There is neither impact nor weight behind the violence. James “Whitey” Bulger was many things to the city of Boston during his reign as underground kingpin, but as a film subject, he only oozes over the line into vaguely interesting territory. Adapted from the 2001 book, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, the Hollywood account of Whitey’s rise and fall is far more intriguing than last year’s documentary, Whitey: United States of America vs. James J. Bulger. It is not great though. Martin Scorsese’s version of a Whitey-type gangster played by Jack Nicholson in The Departed is leagues above Black Mass. Perhaps that is the most striking takeaway; to make Whitey Bulger’s story appeal to audiences, it must be dressed up and fictionalized because the true story cannot move 2015 filmgoers the way previous true crime films have.
Johnny Depp (2014’s Into the Woods) disappears under his makeup’s masks and layers. If I did not know going into the film, I would not have guessed it was Depp in there. The whole get up with the greased back hair, pinhole pupils, and chalky pallor make him look like Ray Liotta playing Whitey Bulger. If Black Mass were possible 15-20 years ago, Ray Liotta would play him anyway. Told in chronological flashbacks, Whitey’s henchmen lead the audience into the story from their points of view. We’re held at a distance from the real Whitey because we rarely see any events through his eyes. Either to make him appear more scheming, menacing, or aloof, Depp rarely gets in more than a few sentences before moving on. Whitey is often in the room, but he is frequently not the talker.
Johnny Depp (2014’s Into the Woods) disappears under his makeup’s masks and layers. If I did not know going into the film, I would not have guessed it was Depp in there. The whole get up with the greased back hair, pinhole pupils, and chalky pallor make him look like Ray Liotta playing Whitey Bulger. If Black Mass were possible 15-20 years ago, Ray Liotta would play him anyway. Told in chronological flashbacks, Whitey’s henchmen lead the audience into the story from their points of view. We’re held at a distance from the real Whitey because we rarely see any events through his eyes. Either to make him appear more scheming, menacing, or aloof, Depp rarely gets in more than a few sentences before moving on. Whitey is often in the room, but he is frequently not the talker.
The gentleman blessed with paragraphs and paragraphs of nothing to say is FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton, 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings), a local boy turned G-man returning to clean up the rough streets he grew up on. For a fed, Connolly is a bit too selective of which undesirables to sweep up. He wants to take down the Italian mafia hanging out on the north side of town and effectively convinces his colleagues and boss they should use Whitey, a small time hood, as an informant to take down the bigger fish. The ultimate consequence of this decision, in the film and in real life, was to turn a blind eye to Whitey’s growing criminal empire and help launch him from a street corner thug to south Boston kingpin solely responsible for introducing hard drugs to schools, widespread extortion, and perhaps dozens of murders.
Black Mass may feature Depp as Whitey on the movie poster, but half the film at least belongs to Connolly. The audience searches for clues dropped by director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace) as to whether Connolly used Whitey as means to an end or acted as an inside man to protect and shield a criminal he idolized from his youth. Kevin Bacon (2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love) as the FBI Special Agent in charge of Boston’s FBI headquarters is skeptical at best of Connolly’s intentions but every time he is ready to pull the plug, Whitey magically produces actionable intelligence on the Italians or other ne’er-do-wells. Connolly’s wife, Marianne (Julianne Nicholson, 2013’s August: Osage County), is convinced of Connolly’s true intentions. She spots the upgrade in fancy suits, gold watches, and even his more confident gait.
Another puzzle piece in the Whitey sphere of influence is his younger brother and powerful Massachusetts State Senator, Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch, 2014’s The Imitation Game). Cumberbatch is known for his crisp and sharp British accent. I am not expert enough to tell you whether or not his thick Boston brogue is spot on or over the top, but it sticks out. Cooper shows Billy as a man smart enough to know exactly who Whitey is, but never gets caught acknowledging it. Billy and Whitey take good care of their mother, cooking for her and playing cards with her, but just how much, if any, political force Billy put behind Whitey is left untouched. Even though his machinations are persistently hinted at, Billy barely registers any impact whatsoever in Black Mass. He seems to know nothing, rarely says anything of consequence, and remains a sideline spectator through the mayhem. This choice by Cooper is one of the reasons later scenes between the brothers lack drama and feeling when they should resonate deeper.
The violence resonates though. I lost count of how many bullets explode into the back of skulls or how many ropes are pulled taught around throats. The violence borders on episodic. We are introduced to an associate, they either do something to annoy Whitey or become a threat to his freedom, and then they are quickly done away with. This sequence becomes sort of a routine – there is one of Whitey’s henchmen who mouths off, the jai alai squealer, another henchman’s step daughter, and on and on. These victims serve the purpose of proving how vile and unforgiving Bulger could be, but just a handful of their demises register an effect.
Scott Cooper made hard choices concerning how he would examine Bulger’s life through film. His choice to hold him back, leave him quiet, and jump around across the known highlights of his criminal career are the main reasons Black Mass fails to meet our expectations. Bostonians will appreciate how much footage Cooper shot at many of the actual locations Whitey conducted his business, but outside of Boston, the audience will rely more on story for we will fail to recognize the significance of a particular southie block or watering hole. Depp’s performance did not leap off the screen but it is a welcome return to somewhat understandable roles after garbage such as Mortdecai and lackluster duds including Transcendence and The Lone Ranger. I am not convinced there is a great movie to be made about Bulger’s life; we’re going to have to settle for the fictionalized version for now.
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