Black Mass

Rating: 7/10 (21 September 2015)

After a string of critical and box office flops such as The Lone Ranger, Transcendence and Mortdecai, Johnny Depp was in need of a box office and critical hit. Some critics are saying that this new film, Black Mass, will be Depp's comeback role and may even net him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but I think personally that those critics are being too premature. Thankfully for the most part, I tend to choose what I watch very carefully, so I have avoided those three recent Depp features that I mentioned earlier in this review. However, I have found that in the last 15 years or so, that Depp's roles and the movies that he is being offered are not what they used to be. I know that the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are really popular with fans of all ages and just recently I attempted to watch three of the entries in that film series with having the ultimate outcome of me caring very little for it. Some of the visuals and makeup and effects can be neat enough at times, but that is not what I look for in a movie. To me they are just more or less like big budget action films catered to a younger audience that despite whether critics love them, or hate them, they are going to make a lot of money. As for Depp in the films, I feel that his role as Captain Jack Sparrow is essentially a one note performance and while it may have worked in the first Pirates movie, I now think it is getting old and there is really nothing new, or relevant to say about what has become an iconic character, or films. The films themselves are just mediocre and the performance just feels old now because we have seen it so many times now and I feel there is nothing new, or revitalizing that they can now bring to that franchise. Despite my thoughts another film is currently in the works in that series which is slated to be released next year. I also find that other Depp roles recently have gotten too over the top and almost cartoonish in a way and I feel that it certainly hurts the films themselves and makes Depp often seem annoying, or really trying too hard for no reason. I'll list Tim Burton's failed Alice in Wonderland version as an example of this. I particularly liked Johnny Depp in the 90's where he was in a string of really original films, but gave great performances and depth to the characters as well. Think of films like Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, Dead Man and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas just to name a few films from that time period. These films were actually great films and featured great Depp performances in them as well, but sadly it almost seems as if he is getting away from those smaller yet vastly better films. With, Black Mass it is possible that the film could earn Depp an Academy Award nomination, but for myself I would not nominate him personally. While he is good in the role of real life gangster Whitey Bulger, I feel that often the role is downplayed a bit and when Bulger, should be menacing and almost scary he comes off more subdued and even passive and I think the result of a terrifying and intimidating gangster is not really something the film, or the performance managed to pull off. I appreciated that the film showed different aspects of Bulger's character and not just as a violent psychopath, and I often found that some of the more quiet and personal scenes were more effective in both terms of acting and writing. Another thing I found that I think others will too is the fact that Depp's Bulger seems to be more of a supporting character and doesn't really carry the film in any way and is more of a background character. Whether that was intentional, or not I do not know, but the others characters when they were on screen did not seem to have quite as much screen presence and weren't as interesting to watch. I actually found the best performances in the film to be small supporting performances from typically great performers such as Juno Temple, Peter Sarsgaard and Dakota Johnson. Their roles are quite strong, but I feel are some of the best in the film and I almost wished they could have been in the film longer than they actually were because they were omitting off great performances and because of that they were fascinating to watch and added more to the film that sadly for the rest of it was missing. Black Mass, is not a bad film, but neither is it the great masterpiece I think a lot of people were hoping for. It is just simply an average film in pretty much every way except for a few bright performances which I mentioned above and also some of the cinematography was quite good at times as well. I think another thing that holds this film back is it really doesn't bring anything new to the screen. We have seen these type of mob films before and much better ones, so unfortunately there is nothing to distinguish this one apart from the countless others that have come out before it. It is a film that I think because it plays out like something you have seen before and also because it adds nothing new to the table that after it leaves theatres it will be a film you will see on television now and again, but will quickly be forgotten by a lot of people because there is just nothing really memorable about it.