Black Mass (2015)
Black Mass Movie Review
Black Mass is a 2015 crime film directed by Scott Cooper and starring Johnny Depp. It is an unpleasant, derivative movie.
It is about an infamous mobster Whitey Bulger. The plot itself is very familiar and I’ve seen this kind of film countless times before. It was so clichéd and so typical at every turn. The first half is a bit better, but unfortunately the second half is so boring and even annoying at times. Yes, the violence is sickening here in some scenes. But the bigger problem has to be the boring characters and that tired storyline.
The main character is so obnoxious to the point of being difficult to watch. I hated him and his terrible actions. But at least he is memorable whereas others are pretty much all forgettable and weakly developed. As for the acting, Johnny Depp definitely gave a respectable performance that is one of his better ones. He disappeared into the role and he truly was repulsive. He is the only great thing about this movie and the biggest reason to see Black Mass.
Black Mass is also weakly directed by Scott Cooper and way too long and badly paced. It is too boring and never particularly engaging. Also, the plot structure is very odd as the first half is basically a family drama and a biopic whereas the second half goes full mod mode. And it tries to have humor, but fails as it is never funny at all. For all of that serious and lightweight exchange, the film definitely has a ridiculous tone to it. It has a solid attention to detail as it recreates the period fairly well, but the score is forgettable and the emotional engagement is never there.
The film just has countless of those convoluted plot points where characters interact (by either slowly talking or torturing each other) which are so typical for this genre and which are always annoying to watch. If it focused more on family drama instead of typical mob action, it would have been much better, but it ended up being clichéd and mostly forgettable.
