Comprised of spectacular performances, Johnny Depp and Co. carry this run-of-the-mill B list Mob movie to relevance.

Rating: 6/10 (17 September 2015)

Encompassed with episodic rhythm and an awfully conventional format, Scott Cooper mutates a story of rich soil capable of greatness to a detaching and routine crime film. Black Mass grasps only on the superficial layer as it focuses solely on documented events of the crime they organized. Due to this, the movie suffers as it seems to be merely a biography- laying out these horrific events in these specified timeframes but not putting any focus on the characters that performed it. All action, but none of the story that happens between that allows the audience to view who they are and what they're like. Black Mass fails to delve deeper into the roots, and this of course limits the scope of all the actors. Great mob cinematography such as The Godfather, Goodfellas, and the Sopranos- all of these were so great because they allowed the audience to see what the characters were like when they weren't shooting, beating, or plotting against people.
That being said, in their limited boxes boy do these actors put on a show. Led by Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton, the audience can tell straight from the start that this cast reveled and lived their roles. With the amount of overwhelming, heinous events; the film had to have someone cold-hearted and sleazy, and woah did these actors become the epitome of that. However, due to this heavily limited character, the only "rise" the audience feels are from the bone-chilling actions that these men did. Black Mass fails to captivate. And when the closing credits roll a feeling of disappointment washes over you, as it feels like you just watched an episode on the ID channel with really, really good actors.