Black Mass? More like Black Mess. This movie wasn’t just a story most of us couldn’t care less about; it was boring. It reminded me of American Hustle in that it was set in the same time period; it had a fantastic cast and, most importantly, the high expectations going in. This movie wasn’t as disappointing as American Hustle was, because it didn’t have the Oscar expectations going in that American Hustle did. Nonetheless, like the Christian Bale-led movie, I expected big things from this Johnny (Finding Neverland, Chocolat) endeavor. I don’t know if this movie was trying to be a combination of The Godfather, The Departed, and Public Enemies, but it didn’t succeed beyond making Depp look like an old Jack Nicholson. I liked seeing Depp outside of the quirky roles he has been performing as of late. And while he was pretty good, the movie was brought down, in part, by how boring his character was. Unlike American Hustle, in which the performances were good (yet still overrated), the performances in Black Mass were flat. A terrific cast is wasted here. It is a disappointing movie in every sense of the word.

This is the true story of James “Whitey” Bulger (Depp), a small-time gangster and leader of the Winter Hill gang, an Irish-American gang based in South Boston. The movie spans several years, mostly 1975-1985. It begins with police interviews with Bulger’s crew. This is set sometime in the early 1980s. His crew explains they aren’t rats, but they agree to work with the FBI in exchange for leniency on the crimes they’ve committed. His team consists of newcomer Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons – television’s Breaking Bad, television’s Fargo), his right-hand man Steve Flemmi (Rory Cochrane – television’s CSI: Miami, Public Enemies), and hitman Johnny Martorano (W. Early Brown – television’s True Detective – season 2). Though he is small-time, Whitey has plans for something bigger. And even though he is small-time, every time someone gets close to finding something on him, he manages to get out of the situation without so much as a scratch on him.

A more significant threat in South Boston is the Angiulo Brothers, a rising group with powerful ties to the Mafia. John Connolly (Joel Edgerton – Warrior, The Gift) returns home to South Boston after a series of quick promotions in the FBI. He has an interesting proposal to get his boss, Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon – Footloose, Mystic River), to sign off. It involves letting Whitey turn the other cheek on some of his minor crimes in exchange for intel on the Angiulos. Whitey says he isn’t a rat, but he does say he is a businessman. We are aware of the potential problems that would arise with this sort of arrangement. It doesn’t help that Whitey’s brother William (Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game, War Horse) is a state senator. William loves his brother dearly but disapproves of what he does to maintain his way of life. We can also see problems that would arise from this situation. All of these problems occur, and then some, and things spiral out of control while Whitey continues to develop an untouchable God complex.

Scott Cooper’s (Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart) drama is bland in appearance and dull in delivery. He couldn’t create the same gripping story that he got from the movies mentioned above. Depp’s portrayal of Whitey as a cold-hearted killer is on the money, yet that doesn’t make the performance memorable. The character wasn’t at all likable, and while he faced some challenging circumstances, we feel absolutely no empathy for him. In his first film since his career-changing performance in The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch is underutilized here. Anybody could have played the role of this character, whose purpose in the movie was almost pointless. The characters all look like they are from the late ’70s, except for Kevin Bacon, who, aside from his thick Grantchester knot tie, looks like he’s straight out of a 2015 edition of GQ. The music is cheesy. We get everything from strings to the piano to brass instrumentals between the transitioning scenes. In many respects, despite the decade-long time gap, this is a much less successful version of the fantastic The Wolf of Wall Street.

This movie wasn’t my cup of tea, and I like a good drama based upon true stories (especially those dealing with crime). However, I found this incredibly dull and a story that did not need telling. You can do better at the movies this season.

Plot 7/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 6/10
Acting 8/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing  7/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 6/10
Hook and Reel 6/10
Universal Relevance 6/10 (I found this pretty unrelatable)
68%

D

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• Public Enemies
• The Departed
• Goodfellas
• The Drop
• Donnie Brasco