Black Mass

Plot synopsis:
In the opening scene, Agent Eric Olsen (Lonnie Farmer) is interrogating Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons). Olsen asks Kevin to tell him everything he knows about his involvement with the Winter Hill Gang of South Boston, the business dealings of former FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), and anything Kevin can say about his former boss/fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp).Flashback to Boston, 1975.Kevin is seen working as a bouncer outside a bar that Whitey (known to his friends and family as Jimmy) frequents with the other members of his gang - John Martorano (W. Earl Brown), Steve Flemmi (Rory Cochrane), and Tommy King (Scott Anderson). Whitey is introduced as criticizing Martorano for putting his fingers in his mouth after repeatedly taking from a bowl of nuts. Whitey is called outside when Kevin is fighting a man who turns out to be Whitey's cousin.The next day, Whitey makes Kevin drive him and another man, part of the Angiulo crime family, out by a beach where Whitey and Kevin both start to brutally beat the man up and leave him for dead. Later, Whitey goes back into town and greets an old woman who asks him about his stint in Alcatraz. Kevin tells Olsen that Whitey was well-liked in his part of town.Whitey goes home to his mother (Mary Klug), where they play Gin Rummy so he can pay her back some money. They are later joined for dinner by Whitey's brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is the state senator.John Connolly, whom Whitey and Billy knew as kids, returns to Boston and has made a name for himself with the FBI. John meets Billy for lunch to try and get closer to Whitey, but Billy won't tell him anything.John later meets with Whitey at night. He proposes an idea for Whitey to be his informant to take down other mobs, specifically the Angiulos. Whitey doesn't like the idea of being a snitch for the FBI, but John persuades him on the grounds that Whitey can help take down those that, in Whitey's opinion, deserve to get screwed over.The Angiulos murder a Winter Hill Gang member, leading Whitey to go ahead and agree to be an informant. He confides in Steve over his actions, which surprises Steve.John discusses his plans to his boss Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon) and fellow Agent Robert Fitzpatrick (Adam Scott). McGuire doubts John's success in taking down the criminals they're after, but John has some support from another co-worker, John Morris (David Harbour).While driving, Whitey and his boys run into a cop who says the Angiulos are trying to send the Winter Hill Gang a message. Tommy becomes abrasive and swears at the cop, but Steve and Martorano hold him back. The gang goes to the bar where Tommy is still fuming over his encounter with the cop, to which Whitey says Tommy wouldn't have done anything. Tommy gets up and tries to pick a fight with Whitey. He responds by getting up calmly and telling Tommy to take a shot and make it a good one. Tommy cools down and takes his seat.Whitey visits his girlfriend Lindsey Cyr (Dakota Johnson) and their son Douglas (Luke Ryan). During dinner, Lindsey brings up that Douglas got in trouble at school for hitting another kid. Whitey is proud of the boy, but says that he got in trouble because he struck the other kid while people were looking. Therefore, Douglas realizes it's totally okay to hit people when no one else is looking.John pleads with Whitey to not kill or commit any major crimes as long as he is an informant. However, Whitey disregards this when he brings Tommy out by the bridge and has Steve execute him with a shot to the back of the head, despite Whitey appearing to forgive Tommy for his outburst. They bury his body under the bridge, which Kevin mentions to Olsen as being referred to as the "Bulger Burial Ground" for the number of bodies Whitey and his boys have put under there.Whitey goes to visit Lindsey and Douglas, only to learn that the boy is sick. It gets worse later when Whitey joins Lindsey at the hospital. She tells him that Douglas started getting very angry and just fell into a motionless state due to Reye syndrome, leaving him on life support. Realizing he will be brain dead and with no hope left for the boy, Lindsey opts to pull the plug herself. Whitey criticizes her and calls her a murderer, to which Lindsey points out the hypocrisy in that statement. She leaves in tears while Whitey has an outburst and flips a table over.Flashing forward to 1981.By now, Whitey has taken over the Winter Hill Gang, but hasn't brought John back any results regarding the Angiulos. He has also separated from Lindsey after Douglas passes away. He's also got other people on his side, including unstable coke fiend Brian Halloran (Peter Sarsgaard). Brian is first seen coked up at a restaurant where he murders two of his drug dealers in front of everyone before walking out.A breakthrough comes when Whitey is able to deliver John pictures of the Angiulos meeting in local areas. This gives John and his buddies to opportunity to wiretap them and overhear the Angiulos talk about their dealings, including bringing in a lot of drugs. Subsequently, the Angiulos are busted, John becomes a hero at work, and Whitey has less competition to worry about. John becomes closer to Whitey and his boys, which upsets John's wife Marianne (Julianne Nicholson).Whitey gets cut out of an embezzlement scheme for World Jai Alai. He gets Martorano to find the owner of World Jai Alai, Roger Wheeler (David De Beck) and murder him in his car after his weekly golf game. Also killed is their former contact for the scheme, John Callahan (Bill Camp), whom Martorano kills in his car and stuffs in the trunk.Whitey pays off Brian to keep his mouth shut. However, when Brian gets really coked up, he goes to the feds and spills the beans before John and Morris. They dismiss his confession as a bad coke episode. John later finds Whitey at the St. Patrick's Day parade and asks him if he killed Roger Wheeler. Whitey doesn't say a word, yet he knows what led to this question.Brian gets into a car with a friend, only for a bullet to his the other man. Brian tries to drive away frantically when he sees Whitey emerge with a rifle aimed at him. He shoots the car as Brian stumbles out, getting him shot in the leg. As Brian cries in pain, Whitey grabs a smaller gun and shoots him three times before he's dead. Onlookers see the dead bodies and scream as Whitey walks away.Later on, Whitey and Steve pick up Steve's prostitute stepdaughter Deborah (Juno Temple) from the police station. After Whitey asks her if she said anything to the cops, she affirms that she denied anything that could have hurt Whitey. Seemingly trusting her, Whitey takes her to an apartment building where he strangles her to death in front of Steve.A new district attorney, Fred Wyshak (Corey Stoll), moves into the Boston FBI HQ. John tries to befriend him with two tickets to the Red Sox game, but Wyshak refuses them. He is more interested in learning how Whitey has managed to evade police capture over the years.Whitey faces another problem when his mother passes away. He stands on the balcony at the funeral, away from Billy and his family. Now, the only thing that appears to put his mind at ease is his weapons dealings with the IRA.Whitey has dinner with John, Steve, and Morris at John's home. Whitey compliments the steak that Morris made and asks what he marinated it in. Morris says it's a family secret, but Whitey playfully presses him to tell. Morris finally admits it's ground garlic and soy. Whitey then states how easily Morris gave that up despite saying it was a family secret, and if he could spill that so easily, then he figures Morris can say anything else about Whitey. Whitey's demeanor visibly terrifies Morris until Whitey breaks into laughter and plays it off as a joke. He then asks John why Marianne hasn't joined them, to which John says because Marianne doesn't feel good. Whitey goes up to her room to talk to her, chastising her for not joining her husband's friends and putting his hands on her menacingly and also frightening her. This contributes to her later changing the locks on John.John McIntyre (Brad Carter), an informant in the Winter Hill Gang, rats Whitey out over his business with the IRA, leading the gang to beat and murder him.Things start to go downhill for the gang when Wyshak and McGuire really dig into John's business with Whitey. The final nail in the coffin is when Morris confesses to what he knows about Whitey and John's relationship, in exchange for immunity.Martorano, Steve, and Kevin are all arrested, and later on, so is John. He asks the feds to let him leave his house with dignity, but they don't let him When asked by Olsen how his opinion on Whitey has changed since his arrest, Steve says his opinion of Whitey is "strictly criminal".Billy sits in his living room looking somber, most likely already hearing about his brother. Whitey calls Billy from a payphone and says he'll be going away for a while, and he gives him one last goodbye. With that, Whitey would go on the run.The ending text states that Kevin Weeks and John Martorano served their time and that they walk the streets of Boston today as free men. Stephen Flemmi pleaded guilty to 10 murders and is serving a life sentence. Billy Bulger left the state senate and would become president of the University of Massachusetts, but he was forced to resign after it was found out he kept in touch with his brother. John Connolly was convicted in the second-degree murder of John Callahan and was sentenced to 40 years in state prison.The final scene shows an older Whitey in 2011 when, after a tip-off to his whereabouts, he is promptly arrested outside a hotel after 16 years on the run. The real Whitey Bulger received two life sentences, plus five years for his other crimes.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, revenge

Review:
Goodfellas is an action movie compared to Black Mass.There are a few good qualities here: top shelf production, excellent acting, a clear, concise story of characters making poor choices - leading to predictable consequences.But who cares?
Black Mass is a crime drama movie revolving around the true events behind the Winter Hill Gang and the gang's leader Whitey Bulger played by Johnny Depp.
But this film really made me not care if the protagonist (whether you consider that to be Bulger or Connolly) lives or dies; and in a mob movie, that is a worse crime than anything committed on screen.So the acting I blame entirely on Cooper.
Unfortunately, I felt nothing while watching Black Mass.Heralded as a return to acting form for Johnny Depp, Black Mass tells the true-crime story of James "Whitey" Bulger, a mythologized, south-Boston crime lord who operated from the late 70's to early 90's.
As an adaptation of the best-selling book of the same name by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, the film portrays the key years of Bulger's ascent to power in the Boston crime world, during which he acted as an FBI-informant through slick FBI agent (and Southie homeboy) John Connolly (Joel Edgerton).
Afterwards, I could only lament the fact the rest of the movie didn't try harder to be a horror movie, or didn't try harder to be anything interesting at all.Black Mass has the trappings of a great film with solid performances, beautifully lit shots, and a wealth of source materials, making its ultimate failure that much more disappointing.
However, in 2015 it's simply unacceptable to approach the making of a crime movie with absolutely no creative spirit.Several other reviews have likened Black Mass to a poor imitation of Goodfellas or other Scorsese films.
This is the type of the film that makes you want more and more after each scene is done all the way towards the end, and the supporting characters really help Black Mass reach its full potential of hitting the right spots for a moviegoer.
Let's start with the acting: Johnny Depp plays Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger and reveals virtually nothing about the character he plays aside from the violent actions he portrays.
The icy blue eyes of notorious Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger stare out from the screen in Scott Cooper's "Black Mass" like the gaze of some confident jungle predator calmly lying in wait, holding his ground until the moment he moves in for the kill.
But if Johnny Depp's mesmerizing performance — a bracing return to form for the star after a series of critical and commercial misfires — is the chief selling point of "Black Mass," there is much else to recommend this sober, sprawling, deeply engrossing evocation of Bulger's South Boston fiefdom and his complex relationship with the FBI agent John Connolly, played with equally impressive skill by Joel Edgerton.
Depp plays "Whitey" Bulger, and to constantly remind the audience that he's a real bad guy, he gives stone-cold, eye piercing looks, he throws in the necessary run of the mill curses, kills a few unremarkable people throughout and that's it.
Even a black screen for 122 minute would have been better because then you get to sleep.The movie moves at such a slow pace with so boring a plot and so many attempts at making everybody look good and being politically correct, that even the awesome Johnny Depp performances in the trailer look weak and halfhearted when put into context.Basically: Watch the trailers (they're awesome), but not the movie!.
But to me Black Mass was about as exciting as watching a bad night of karaoke when you've promised yourself you weren't going to drink or smoke anymore.Truth be told, I didn't even recognize Johnny Depp - that's how great an actor he is, but sometimes even a great actor can't save a movie from oblivion.Of course, I realize critics love this type of movie for all the logical reasons they learned in film school, but really, if I hadn't been invited to see it with a friend I would have walked out halfway through.Like I said in the opening, maybe it's just me or maybe the king really isn't wearing any clothes ;-).
I'm giving this a 10 as it did everything a movie should: kept me entertained and watching till the end.Yes it seems to be a love it or hate it movie in terms of reviews, but in my opinion it is likely another case of something STYLIZED coming across Clichéd in the mind of the average consumer.Or maybe you just need to be an oddball yourself to appreciate the characters.It may not be a constantly hilarious movie (it's not just a comedy after all), but regardless i found it funny and entertaining, with a good plot and a few memorable scenes.(Disclaimer: Im not your average movie viewer.
Unfortunately, the Hollywood treatment is exactly what Bulger's story gets in "Black Mass" (R, 2:02).Johnny Depp stars as Whitey Bulger and the film focuses on the middle portion of his life, his rise and fall as a Boston crime boss.
He gives a convincing performance, but the make-up used on him is distracting and it feels like a lot of time and effort went into making Depp look, sound and act like Ray Liotta in "Goodfellas" and that's not the only distracting part of this movie – or the only connection with "Goodfellas".
But the subject of "Black Mass" is real-life hoodlum James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) who grew to be the kingpin in the Boston underworld.Heavily protected by an old friend and FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Egerton, "The Great Gatsby") who is running him as an informant, Bulger ruthlessly destroys his Boston Italian rivals and tries to keep one step ahead of sceptical FBI boss Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon) and CIA investigator Fred Wyshak (Corey Stoll from "House of Cards").
Told in flashback form, the film charts Bulger's career and his relationship with his brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) who (amazing but true!) was the State Senator for Massachusetts.Depp is a chameleon-like actor.
Earl Brown ("There's Something About Mary") as his right (and left) arm men and the talented Dakota Johnson as the concerned mother to his son.Although it's good as a simple gangster film, the film is a little two-dimensional to be great.The treatment of the relationship between the brothers – surely one of the most dramatic and surprising parts of the story – is perfunctory, with Cumberbatch (sporting a good Bostonian accent) having relatively few minutes on the screen.It's also almost impossible to form any emotional connection with Depp's character.
But when the prosecutor Fred Wyshak (Corey Stoll) is assigned to Boston, he demands investigation of Whitey despite the interference of Connolly and Whitey becomes one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List criminals."Black Mass" is another crime film based on the biography of a notorious gangster, this time the criminal James "Whitey" Bulger in South Boston.
This past history in turn doesn't really provide a fair shake for any film in the current time frame as we have so much the compare it to.I believe that the real demystification of this spell (not to say the cast wasn't good or to question the deftness of Depp) is that we seem to have seen this story a lot.
Depp now turns his talents towards one of the most unsympathetic real life characters imaginable  South Boston's infamous crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger.Director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace) proves yet again that he is an actor's director, rather than a visual technician or story addict.
In this adaptation of the book from "Boston Globe" reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, Cooper has Depp and Joel Edgerton as his two leads, and an incredibly deep supporting cast that provide the look and feel for this period piece dramatizing the crime and corruption during Bulger's reign.When one thinks of the memorable kingpins of crime/gangster movies, those that come to mind include Michael Corleone (The Godfather movies), Tony Montana (Scarface), Jimmy Conway (Goodfellas), and Frank Costello (The Departed).
And that's the disappointment of Cooper's film.For the Whitey Bulger story, there are two distinct directions to explore: the building of Bulger's criminal empire, or the motivation of the FBI Agent John Connolly (Edgerton) as he juggled his job and relationship with Bulger.
Black Mass is not an example of excellence in this type of film, far from it, but can fulfill its role as a whole is good, has an extremely attractive story, and at times his many jumps in time cease all very chopped, but the whole experience is justified by a major factor: Johnny Depp.
All actors in the main long core are fine in their roles, which already slightly increases the overall grade, but Depp is really fantastic, leaving those who really watches in fear for all who engage with him, even with some dramas placed within the story somewhat unresolved, all convictions and Jimmy Bulger motivations are extremely convincing in the hands of the great actor.
One of the year's best casts, stories, and overall opportunities for greatness is wasted with this dull, and minimalist gangster bore.Black Mass, essentially is a canvas for Johnny Depp to re-thrive his recently deadbeat career.
Scores a 10 out of 10 ratingThe crime film genre remains in good stead with the launching of director Scott Cooper's Black Mass which is a movie biography based on factual evidence of south Boston's number one crime lord of the 1970's and 1980's the vicious head of the Winter Hill Gang, James (Whitey) Bulger.
Bulger" that is well worth watching for its in-depth insight in to the real south Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger before seeing Black Mass and realizing how well produced and acted the film really is.Johnny Depp plays the lead role of James Whitey Bulger with a hard to achieve balance of rare human compassion for his family and as a fearless gangster who knows no bounds in maximizing the physical violence he will dispel on anyone who gets in his way.It is always difficult to take a true story of a mans life that evolves over decades and capture the essence of the man in a two hour film but director Scott Cooper does an excellent job in achieving just that.
This gangster film centers on the true story of one of Boston's most wanted criminals, Whitey Bulger, an Irish mobster who served as an informant for the FBI against the Italian Mafia for many years, during which time he used the special treatment to get away with committing several gruesome crimes of his own and rise to the top.
i am big fan of good fellas and departed & still i like BLACK MASS.johnny Depp gave a power packed performance.every single scene is dominated by him.there are some scenes made the movie slower and there are some scenes not accurate as it was happened but still story was gripping and also it was narrated clearly didn't confuse the audiences.i know that i cant expect any surprises in the end.we all know how its end still some scenes made me interested like Depp's performance at the table scene with David harbour.see it for Johnny Depp's acting ..
The film has an ensemble cast including Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Rory Cochrane, Adam Scott, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll.-The film follows the criminal career of infamous Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger (Depp).
The site's critical consensus reads, "Black Mass spins a gripping yarn out of its fact-based story – and leaves audiences with one of Johnny Depp's most compelling performances in years." On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 68 out of 100 based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, in addition to praising the film, called Depp's performance "fully convincing and frightening", saying it to is "very welcome at this point in his career and one of his best." -Similarly, Indie Wire's Eric Kohn praised the cast and highlighted Depp's performance and Cooper's directorial efforts to depict "the haunting legacy of Bulger's criminal deeds, and the lingering sense that no justice can erase their impact." Admiring Black Mass as an "elegantly understated crime drama", Variety's Scott Foundas positively compared Depp's performance in the film to his earlier roles with Tim Burton.-TheWrap's Alonso Duralde praised Depp's performance, but was less positive towards the film's pacing and short on screen appearances of some supporting characters.
It tries to copy the great gangster flicks of our time but just ends up being mediocre.When we are introduced to the CIA agent things got a little bit more interesting, but then the film tends to speed past anything interesting as if it's not of any importance and tries to focus on intimate moments between the main characters, it might of worked if the script wasn't so boring..
'Black Mass' falls somewhere between the two, Depp is fantastic but the film itself, drags.Depp plays Whitey Bulger, a Boston gangster with a psychotic edge, who aligns himself with childhood friend and FBI agent, John Connolly, played by Joel Edgerton.
By now we've seen this format often enough with its well-rehearsed drills: men in suits and big ties: large hair on everyone; a soundtrack of known and more obscure period hits; moody settings in bars, wasteland, and a shabby district of town; a protagonist that is attractive in a psychopathic sense, a supporting cast of solid actors embellish the entire piece; a script with a couple of strong scenes and a memorable line and bada bing - it's a quality piece of work.There's little wrong with this movie: some people may quibble about Depp (who seems to have channeled a bit of Nicholson from The Departed as he filched Keith Richards for the pirate series), but really, it's not worth the struggle.
BLACK MASS is a very standard gangster film meant strictly for the fans of crime dramas as well as Johnny Depp.
His portrayal of notorious gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger is brilliant, and is the sole reason that 'Black Mass' is worth watching.Depp aside, this film doesn't have much going for it.
Expected more, as it was a bio-pic of the criminal lord Whitey Bulger, and more over Johnny Depp was doing it, coming to the movie, it was straight-forward dive into the kingpin's life, when it comes to the direction scott Cooper does a decent job in handling only a piece, of unveiling friendship b/w bulger and his alliance John Connolly.
It's not a typical crime thriller, it's a realistic classic on the same level as Goodfellas.Director Scott Cooper, the screenwriters and lead actor Johnny Depp do an excellent job of gradually revealing the personality of Whitey Bulger, a true psychopath.
Bulger is quick to betray his friends and is unforgiving even to his closest associates when they present the slightest threat to him, while at the same time he demands total loyalty from everybody around him.I haven't liked Joel Edgerton in other roles, such as Ramses in Exodus: Gods and Kings, but he is the ideal actor to play John Connolly.Black Mass moves along at just the right pace, not too fast for character development and yet quickly enough so that it's never dull..
Black Mass, the story of James 'Whitey' Bulger (played by Johnny Depp) is very interesting and pleasant to watch if you are into crime and Mafia stories.
It stars Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Rory Cochrane, and Benedict Cumberbatch along with Dakota Johnson, and Kevin Bacon.Black Mass the true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.What would happen if you mixed Good Fellas, Wolf of Wall Street, Casino and the Departed minus Scorsese plus a non-linear format?- Black Mass.Black Mass has quite a few strengths under its belt to justify quite a few of the flaws it garners.
And Johnny Depp, along-with Joel Edgerton deliver BRILLIANTLY!'Black Mass' is The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.'Black Mass' explores a violent time in American History & its utterly brutal.
However, none of these great actors can top Johnny Depp in the lead role, he shines in every scene, he lives and breaths Bulger and it is very clear that he went method for his performance, I've never been unimpressed with him in any movie, but this is some of his best work yet.
While it may be lacking in thrills at times, Black Mass boasts a terrific story, excellent character development and outstanding performances, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good crime drama.
BLACK MASS: Bravo to Johnny Depp, unrecognizable (kudos to the hair and makeup people) for his Oscar worthy, chilling performance as real life Boston gangster Whitely Bulger, a small time gangster used as an informant by the FBI to bring down the Mafia, thus clearing the way for his own criminal operation.
I liked this biographical crime drama thriller from the director of Out Of The Furnace (2013), Scott Cooper, and starring Johnny Depp as the infamous Irish American Gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger.
Johnny Depp put on a nice performance as James 'Whitey' Bulger, almost Oscar worthy, as with Joel Edgerton, who played the role of John Connolly.
"Black Mass" is a film about James 'Whitey' Bulger (Johnny Depp), a violent gangster who becomes an FBI informant in order to take down a Mafia family who is disrupting his criminal activities and at the same time involving John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), an FBI agent.