drudgery

Rating: 5/10 (20 September 2015)

If you like slow, plodding movies full of unlikeable characters, by all means gear up for this sleep inducing film. Goodfellas is an action movie compared to Black Mass.
There are a few good qualities here: top shelf production, excellent acting, a clear, concise story of characters making poor choices - leading to predictable consequences.
But who cares? There's no entertainment here! None of these characters are worth giving a damn about, and the few sporadic scenes that offer any true value sit like islands on a still horizonless sea.
But I learned something... Really? This might be the number one reason to sit through this boring expanse, and the info is not worth it. The scumbags are scumbags, the protagonist is a weak, shallow excuse for a law enforcer, and the other surrounding characters are bland at best (including Benedict, who for all his talent, brings nothing of note to an already white bread affair). Speaking of white bread - No culture what-so-ever, and often these fat, out of shape gangsters look absurd in their early 80's sunglasses and attire. There will be no awards given for costuming or make-up here. True Depp is transformed with prosthetics, but as a friend and I joked - his character is far exceeded by the likes of Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder.
If you've seen the trailer, you've been robbed of one of the films three or four memorable moments. Interestingly, all of these good scenes are just spice to the meat of the film. This is not a good thing! When the main arc is dull, the violence (while realistic) lacks stylistic punctuation, and the constant voice overs are delivered with apathy... one wonders what the hell the director was thinking!
Waste of time, even for fans of actors involved.
my score? a disappointingly average 5 out of 10.