A "Must-See" For All Gangster Movie Fans

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2017)

In this movie, a series of testimonies by a group of criminals tells the story of how the FBI and a mobster in 1970s' Boston entered into an extraordinary alliance to bring down the city's Italian mafia. Both sides co-operated with the aim of eliminating their common enemy but their collusion also resulted in the small-time mobster being given all the latitude he needed to develop into a criminal kingpin.
Jimmy "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp), the leader of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang, was involved in racketeering, extortion, controlling vending machines etc. but was also increasingly troubled by the Italian mafia who were steadily muscling in on his territory. When his childhood friend and FBI agent, John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) was assigned to clean up the city's North End, he immediately targeted the Italian mafia and persuaded his boss, Special Agent Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon), to let him exploit his friendship with Bulger to gather the intelligence they needed to bring an end to the mafia's operations. McGuire reluctantly agreed and a deal was subsequently struck between Connolly and Bulger. As a reward for his co-operation, the deal gave the gangster an assurance that he wouldn't be arrested.
Bulger made good use of the protection he was given to carry on his criminal activities uninterrupted and after supplying Connolly with some useful information about the Italians, the FBI agent was able to bring them to justice. This enhanced Connolly's status within the FBI and removed Bulger's only criminal rivals. Connolly's loyalty to his old friend who, as a child, had protected him from bullies, then led to them socialising together and Connolly becoming ever more corrupt as he ignored or discredited any evidence that he was given against Bulger. Things then changed for the FBI man when a new "by-the-book" prosecutor was appointed and Connolly suddenly found that, from that time on, he would have to play strictly by the rules.
Director Scott Cooper does a great job of condensing all the important elements of this true story into a hard-hitting end-product that convincingly recreates the era in which it's set. The dialogue is also economical and sounds very authentic, especially in the FBI interviews with Bulger's closest associates. The action features a great deal of brutality, profanity and corruption and a tremendous number of executions, with many carried out by Bulger himself. He's a terrifying psychopath whose volatility and paranoia provoke him into killing even when his victims don't necessarily present any great danger to him and so it's interesting to see the various passages of the film in which his more human side is depicted. In these scenes, he's shown as a kind father and a loving son who's helpful to old ladies.
It's striking just how strong Connolly's bonds are with the characters that he grew up in the same neighbourhood as him and it's this loyalty that paved the way for an arrangement which gave Bulger's gang the freedom to carry out their criminal activities for so long without any adverse consequences. It's also interesting that Bulger's brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) was a state senator during the period when the gangster's arrangement with Connolly was in force.
The quality of the cast in this movie is exceptional with everyone providing superb performances and the unrecognisable Johnny Depp absolutely immense in his role as Bulger. "Black Mass" did well commercially and is definitely a "must-see" for all gangster movie fans.