Black Mass (2015)

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(15/12/15)

“Black Mass evidently highlights itself a fitting story that needed to be told, accompanying itself with a warm aesthetic, strong performances and audacious music”

Johnny Depp undertakes the seriously chilling Whitey Bulger in this uneasy Boston-based crime drama. Black Mass unveils the true story of Irish Mob boss “Jimmy” Bulger who reportedly served as an informant for the FBI from 1975 (more directly to John Connolly – an FBI agent played by Joel Edgerton) in a deceptive move to wipe out his criminal enemies and subsequently expand his turf. While the story behind Black Mass was bereft to my knowledge, director Scott Cooper has projected the two-hour piece in such a coherent, linear way, more or less free from convolutions than what you’d usually find in films lingering around this genre (take The Godfather: Part II for example). As with most adapted screenplays, however, appropriate tampering with the true stories usually have to be enacted upon to secure a stronger sense of plot; ones with a firm beginning, middle, and end. Regardless, the premise is brilliant; and it’s beautifully projected onto the big screen.

I recall social media hype sky-rocketing when Johnny Depp unveiled his new, megalomaniac look of the character a few months prior to the release date of Black Mass – the dirty teeth, the aged skin, and of course the balding hair, which without a doubt invokes a sense of foreboding. This is very much same the hype surrounding Matthew McConaughey on the upcoming drama Gold. Depp, however, performed his role successfully, as I actually hated him throughout Black Mass. I seriously hated him (was that the intention?). He’s a severely more dirtier and cheaper version of Jordan Belfort, corrupted with avarice, drugs, and has a feast for womanizing. The whole film turns itself into a warped state of darkness, negativity, and pessimism, so far that there are no protagonists to root for, unlike other crime films (Don Corleone, for example); we are not explicitly supposed to enjoy Bulger’s actions. There’s even one scene where Depp deeply intimidates Connolly’s wife, subsequently leading her to leave him because of his dangerous misdemeanors with blatant criminals despite working for the FBI, an institution which tries to uphold justice at all costs. In spite of this, I personally think more films should use “the main character is evil” technique to add more drive to a movie; it really does lack in today’s cinema.

While the plot is bounded in a coherent manner, it did seem to drag fairly fallibly nearer the end of the film. It’s that whole rinse-and-repeat ex-machina trick that you find in the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street; let’s quickly show some more bad stuff without going into too much context just to let you know that we’re still bad. You kind of wait for the ending to meet its match as there’s no way of escaping what’s going to happen. But it takes far too much time to build up to that climax. I was eagerly anticipating this nearer the end of the second act. Albeit on the other hand, Black Mass introduces solidly to a well-approached beginning and middle which rounds off decent character development and masterful violence. I was actually somewhat surprised that a movie set during the mid-70s and its gradual forthcoming years to have such an awe of decency when it came to set, makeup, and costume design as well as still having a tangible 70s feel when it came to the cinematography. This is something I see lacking into today’s movie’s; I even criticized the aesthetic on my Straight Outta Compton review for looking too modern.

One thing that did stand out was the incredible score which turns out to be from Junkie XL, whose assortment has included the previous Mad Max: Fury Road which was critically acclaimed for it’s soundtrack earlier this year. Despite this, Junkie XL has captured something conceptually magnificent with Black Mass; he understands the narratives and tale of the story, finding dark, often distrusting, trickles of music to build tension and no sense of hope. The outro credits are driven by beautifully crafted pieces of melancholic strings, and I didn’t leave until the first bulk of credits ended because of the fantastic score, as did others also.

Black Mass evidently highlights itself a fitting story that needed to be told, accompanying itself with a warm aesthetic, strong performances and audacious music. But it conclusively staggers on feeble plot occurrences that cannot be justified for user satisfaction. The majority of the movie projects itself solidly, but the somewhat draggy motifs past the halfway mark render it stale and uncomfortable to sit through. While I did enjoy Black Mass come its finale, it’s still a movie I probably won’t watch again.

Matthew Alfrey

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