Black Mass has its own moments, but will test your patience for sure.

Rating: 4/10 (27 September 2018)

First of all, I had NEVER heard of this movie. It's just by chance that I got to know about it when I had ordered a DVD of the crime-action flick THE DEPARTED and instead got a box set containing both the movies. I had really enjoyed THE DEPARTED and thus I had no choice but to watch BLACK MASS since I had got it along with it. I had spent my money, I had to deal with it.
Now comes another curious case. I took me three attempts to finish this movie. At first, I watched the first 27 minutes and turned it off. Weeks later, which was yesterday, I decided to give it a watch. I watched till the 43rd minute and then again turned it off. After a few hours, I became determined to finish this movie at once. It turned out to be fine since the second half did improve a bit. BLACK MASS didn't really get me involved until an hour was already gone. There were good moments in the first half as well, but they were just very, very few.
Thankfully, Johnny Depp's performance is great as James 'Whitey' Bulger. He has sunken his teeth into the character and has come up with a strong performance. The film had got my attention right when I found out it had Benedict Cumberbatch in it. He has done a great job, but unfortunately, his character doesn't get much scope and that's true. Joel Edgerton is decent.
What works in favor of BLACK MASS is Depp's fine performance, some brief yet decent action bits, a few dramatic moments and the ending score.
What doesn't work in its favor is the unfocused screenplay, poor editing, underdeveloped characters (which is a surprise since this is a crime drama which devotes almost every bit of it to nothing but its characters) and a patience-testing first half.
BLACK MASS isn't in totality a bad movie, but it's just not the kind I'll prefer watching anymore. Except for a few moments, there are no thrills or exciting moments which made THE DEPARTED engaging. BLACK MASS is everything but not engaging. The film's only high moment is only during the climax even though the things feel wrapped up a bit shoddily but still nicely. It did make me keep checking how much time had elapsed, whenever I found the scenes longer or boring.
Perhaps it's due to my seeing the film in parts that I'm not completely exhausted. BLACK MASS is a very standard gangster film meant strictly for the fans of crime dramas as well as Johnny Depp. Rest others, see for yourself. As for me... the DVD is just going to be... there in the collection, although I doubt I'd ever want to see it again.