"Black Mass"- A fascinating true story of crime and corruption turned into a drab, mediocre gangster-flick...

Rating: 5/10 (8 October 2017)

To be honest... I've actually never been a particularly big fan of crime and mafia-related film and media. I can see their value. And I can understand their appeal. It's fun to sort-of put yourself in the shoes of men and women who do terrible things and sort-of vicariously live through stories depicting the criminal underbelly of major cities. And it's fascinating to see how these stories can play out and how these people either thrive or ultimately fall. But I find myself quite picky when it comes to these sorts of films and typically only enjoying the better entries. Because frankly, for every "Godfather"... for every "Casino"... there's about a million and a half lesser or even overtly bad films or shows or stories dealing with this subject matter. So I try to look for the best of the genre on the odd day I find myself interested in watching one of these sorts of films.
"Black Mass" is a strange and fascinating beast. Based on the enthralling and troubling real-life story of Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, and sporting a top-notch cast of wildly talented performers, this should have been an easy and surefire hit. And yet, director Scott Cooper and the screen writing duo of Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth deliver a film that never quite comes together. Only mildly entertaining and informing the audience with some shallow surface level thrills and admittedly fantastic performances... while ultimately feeling far too dry and clinical to really leave a mark. The ingredients are there, but the final product feels hollow and without any real substance. Watching this film is like trying to chew on air- there's just nothing there.
Johnny Depp leads a star-studded cast, as the story follows Bulger's rise and fall in the Boston underworld over the course of a number of years, covering some of the major events of his life- from the tragic death of his son, through his troubling connections with the FBI as an exploitative informant, to several of the murders he was tied in connection to. And to give credit where it is due, Depp is a phenomena in his portrayal of Bulger, and the cast at large is quite good. Depp has always been an incredible persona in the world of entertainment, but as of late his performances have lacked variety and mainly fallen into the realm of "quirky goofballs." Here, we see his sheer talent at work, as he lets the role take him over completely. Supporting performances by the likes of Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon and Benedict Cumberbatch similarly light up the screen (though Cumberbatch hasn't quite nailed his American accent yet here), and it's just a joy to behold everyone on screen. This most certainly is an actor's film.
And in terms of simple aesthetics, director Cooper does do a pretty stellar job in terms of his visual storytelling. The film is slick, gritty and definitely feels very true to life in terms of direction and flow, and Cooper's keen eye for composition and detail lends a lot to the proceedings. And this is wonderfully accented by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi's superbly grounded lighting and some good, moody score by composer Tom Holkenborg. It's a well- crafted movie at very least in terms of production. But the issue here is the story and the portrayal of characters. And that's where it starts to fall apart and lose faith and interest from the viewer.
While my knowledge of Bulger's life and dealings isn't quite vast, I do know a bit about him, and I know that his story could make for one hell of a film. But "Black Mass" doesn't really give us much outside of sheer, blatant details and facts. It's a very calculated film that doesn't really even attempt to delve in the heads of Bulger or his associates much at all, save for a few key scenes early on. It just presents facts over and over. Cold, hard facts. This happened. Then this happened. Then this happened. And it's monotonous for much of its screen time as a result. This could have been a very dark and provocative character study into the mind of a career criminal... instead, it feels like the writers are going down a studio mandated check-list of things they had to include. It takes the soulful performances of Depp and the others and strips away the humanity by not allowing us to care about them or at very least get invested in what's happening. Even with people like Bulger, there needs to be some degree of humanity or reason or exploration to the film for us to care. This is just a roughly-arranged timeline of "stuff happening." Hackneyed and trite in terms of structure and delivery. And it robs the film of virtually all potential... coming across more as a drab, dry and dreary presentation on Bulger than a compelling film about him.
And that's why I just can't forgive the film, despite its remarkable performances and some admittedly solid direction. It's just such a chore of a film, lacking any entertainment or interest. And that's a shame. Depp deserves better. Heck, even Bulger deserves better in a way. And "Black Mass" just fails to meet its sky-high potential. I'm giving it a very mediocre 5 out of 10, and would only recommend it to the biggest of crime-story junkies and fans. All else really need not apply.