Black Mass (2015)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Really Surprised!

It is a performances centric movie

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is by far one of Johnny Depp's best movies. He took on the character really well and even though I don't know the real Jimmy, Depp managed to portray a cold-hearted murderer and criminal flawlessly. Well done to Scott Cooper for the directing. I loved the pace of the movie. From the beginning to the end, it's the type of movie you can't afford to miss a scene. Great job.

I remember liking this a lot when I first saw it, but on watching it a second time, there are a couple of problems. Depp's great here, there's no denying that, in fact the majority of the cast is great here, the main problem is focus. The film really has no plot, it just jumps from moment to moment, without any real connection. It's obviously about Bulger being an informant, but I feel like this could've been handled better than this. Scott Cooper has talent here though, he has a passion for what he does, but he's a bit overzealous with this being only his third film. It takes cues from other mob movies well, there's nothing here that feels like a blatant knock-off of "Goodfellas" or "Casino", and the story here could be interesting with better connectivity. In the hands of Scorsese, this would've been a classic, but Scorsese already did this, he did "The Departed". I know that comparison has been made a million times before, but it's just a better, more engaging movie than this. The performances are great, the premise is great, it just lacks focus. It hits all the bases, just not hard enough to really leave an impact. This might've worked better as a miniseries actually, not condensed into a 2 hour movie. I like Scott Cooper though, I think he has serious potential, similar to "Hostiles", a few minor changes and this would've been a lot better.

Black MassThere is enough darkness in the lead character to give you goosebumps as you cringe yourself on the seat and luckily Johnny justifies it as he empowers each and every actor and character in this throwback of 70-80's old gangsta drama.

I simply could not stay awake during this film. I'd check out for ten minutes at a time, then I just might be up for another ten minutes before I'd check out again. I feel that Johnny Depp was the best I have seen him in many years. The other actors in the movie are among my favorites most of the time, but not here. I can not deal with forced Boston accents. Those accents made it almost impossible for me to pay attention to just about anyone else in this movie. The writing created a story that was not compelling.Bottom line: The four stars in my rating are all owned by Johnny Depp.