As with my first review (Me and Earl and The Dying Girl) I was fortunate enough to attend another Odeon Screen Unseen to watch Black Mass before it’s general release, and it was well worth the money.
From director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace) comes a dark, dirty, violent, gritty aggressive biopic about the Irish-American crime boss of the same description, who goes by the name of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger. Portrayed by Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeney Todd), Bulger is the crime boss that runs 80’s Boston by fear and intimidation, and no time for snitches.
Based in 1980’s Boston, Black Mass joins Whitey Bulger and his Winter Hill Gang in the middle of his reign of terror, and focuses solely on the mission that defined his ‘career’. Whilst he and his gang are fighting for control, the mafia is not too far away and Bulger wants them gone. With a similar thought in mind, old friend and FBI agent John Connelly (Joel Edgerton) and his colleagues want to rid Boston of the mafia too. Because of this, Connelly convinces them to recruit Whitey Bulger as an informant, combining FBI intelligence with street intelligence. With further assistance from Whitey’s brother and senator, Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch), Bulger bulldozes through Boston with a vengeance.
Johnny Depp puts on a horrifyingly realistic and believable performance in playing the leader of the Winter Hill Gang. Depp has recently been infamous for a bad run of films (currently totalling to seven films), ranging from family films to musicals. Most of these roles have either been humorous or strongly resembled other roles played by him (I’m looking at you, The Lone Ranger). However, his portrayal of Bulger is dead serious and quite frightening. This is further heightened by the bald head and sharp, piercing blue eyes that are used intensely when staring, making the audience almost feel uncomfortable. Especially when compared to the recent films as mentioned, this performance could be his ticket back into being taken as a serious, flexible actor.
The timeline within this film does, at times, jump backwards and forwards without any form of warning and can throw you off temporarily. As Black Mass is technically based in a modern setting (whether it’s supposed to be 2011 or 2015 after his capture it’s unclear) whereby associates of Bulger’s are being interviewed, and with each lead it goes back to the 80’s and further explains the stories.
As it’s based on a true story of a decades-old crime boss who can practically manipulate the front of the police force, whilst having to face the many who oppose him and want him buried, you could be forgiven for just imagining that this is going to be the American form of the very British Legend, the biopic about the decades old crime boss twins the Krays, who practically manipulated the front of the police force whilst having the other gangs who oppose them and want them buried. Although they are about different people with slightly different endings and slightly different stories, they both follow an uncannily similar style.
Whilst this film is all about Whitey Bulger and his impact on society, the film follows John Connelly just as much as, if not more than it does Whitey Bulger. And even though all of his scenes are about Whitey in respect to the narrative, it sometimes feels as if the film is about the role Connelly played in Bulger’s reign.
Unlike a lot of films, Black Mass is led by the villain. By being villain led, the audience gets to experience all of the aggressive violence, betrayal, lies and fear at first hand. As easy as it is for any film to make you empathise for the lead character, no matter who they are, even if they are the villain, it’s very difficult to feel bad for Whitey Bulger. There are certain points where you are upset at what happens to him, including what happens with his family, but it is still incredibly difficult to feel sorry for him as it is made very clear that he is incredibly aggressive and unforgiving. One of his most important rules is that you do not betray anyone or snitch (bearing in mind that he becomes an informant for the FBI, and tries to call it something else). Also, at a dinner table when with his friends, he light-heartedly attempts to get the chef to surrender his secret family recipe. After nearly a minute of harassment he caves, only to be met with a dead serious Whitey asking how he can just give up a secret because he asked. After a grand amount of tension is built, Whitey claims he is joking and says to lighten up, but still gives off a sense of seriousness.
The music within this film is intelligently used in a variety of ways. The part that jumped out at me specifically is the sound used when the Winter Hill Gang go to attack someone or ‘complete a mission’. Considering the fact the film starts in 1975 and then jumps to progress throughout the 1980’s, their journey to destination is accompanied by non-diegetic chromatic violins giving off a jaws-esque vibe. The music continuously builds up tension.
Black Mass is a tension building biopic about one of America’s most notorious criminals, and is more engaging for those (such as myself) who did not previously know the story about James ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s rise and fall.
7.6/10
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