'Black Mass': Movie Review

— -- Starring Johnny Depp

Rated R

Four out of five stars

It’s interesting that "Black Mass" is being released the same weekend that marks the 25th anniversary of the release of "Goodfellas," because it’s impossible not to compare the two. Both are stylish dramas about organized crime, both have stellar ensemble casts, and both take place in roughly similar time periods ("Goodfellas" is far more sprawling, while Black Mass is confined to about a decade).

But "Black Mass" isn’t "Goodfellas," or "Casino," or "The Sopranos," or any other gangster movie where you know the main guys are scum but you like them anyway. "Black Mass" makes it very clear: Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger -- and almost everyone around him -- is a very bad man who did inexcusable things. There’s little to no glamour here -- no one’s eating lobster in prison or committing crimes to a classic rock soundtrack. "Black Mass" is grittier, darker and ultimately more real than most of what’s come before it.

Johnny Depp stars as Bulger, one of Boston’s most notorious crime bosses. We pick up in the mid-70s, with Bulger already in power, and the film focuses on how he used his relationship with FBI agent and childhood friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) to gain even more power and ultimately control the city. If you like watching people get shot in the head, this is the movie for you, because that happens a lot. Don’t worry, though: people also get strangled, so there’s a little variety.

You can’t talk about a film like this without talking about the Boston accents, which are solid for the most part. But with a cast this big, it’s expected not everyone’s going to nail the Boston brogue. I’m no expert but Depp seemed solid, Aussie Joel Edgerton excelled, and Jesse Plemons nailed it. But British actor Benedict Cumberbatch seemed less convincing as Whitey’s brother, Billy, a state senator from Southie. Same goes for Corey Stoll as the U.S. attorney working to take down Bulger. Both have limited screen time, however, so it’s not a huge distraction.

One thing I did find distracting, though, was Depp’s character makeup. Every time he came on screen, my first thought was “Hey, there’s Johnny Depp, made up to look older.” It’s not a question of whether he looks like Whitey Bulger – I have no idea what Bulger looked like during those years. It’s just to me, the huge forehead combined with Depp’s mostly unwrinkled face just never looks natural. And sadly, that gets in the way of his otherwise strong performance.

It’s also hard to shake the feeling we’ve seen a lot of this stuff before. One scene that’s meant to be a major mood-setter involves Bulger testing a member of his alliance by making him think he’s going to kill him for revealing a family recipe, only to laugh it off at the end. The whole time, you’re just waiting for Joe Pesci from "Goodfellas" to pop up and say, “Whaddaya mean, I’m funny? Funny how?”

The feeling you’re not watching something new and fresh is one of the things that stops "Black Mass" from being a great movie. That said, though, it’s a very good movie. Depp, with his piercing, icy blue eyes, is chilling as the cold-hearted crime lord with a severely wonky moral compass. Joel Edgerton is fascinating as the FBI agent who slowly gets further and further away from the right side of the law. Jesse Plemons is fantastic as the muscle with the mangled face -- my only complaint is he’s rather prominent in the beginning of the movie and then fades away.

As for the female characters, well, that’s a different story. It’s not that Julianne Nicholson and Dakota Johnson aren’t great: they do what they do well, given their limited roles. The problem is, here’s another movie where the only job of the women is to yell at and have sex with the men. And I get that this is based on a true story, but I feel the writers could have done a little more to make the women more than just nagging, window dressing.

The story, though, is gripping and well-paced -- lean and tight at just a smidge over two hours, when you know they probably could have easily stuffed it with another 30 minutes of murder and mayhem. Solid writing, directing and acting make "Black Mass" one of the more impactful dramas of the year so far.