Black Mass is a crime
drama based on the life of real-life Irish gangster, James “Whitey”
Bulger. It chronicles the events on how Jimmy
(played by Johnny Depp) was persuaded by FBI agent John Connolly (Joel
Edgerton) on becoming an informant against the Italian Mafia in engage for
protection, and how he exploited the arrangement to rise from being a street
hoodlum into one of the biggest, most notorious crime kingpin in American
history.
The thing I
liked most about this movie is the excellent performances from its ensemble cast
– which includes the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon,
Corey Stoll, Jess Plemons, Rory Cochrane, Peter Sarsgaard, Adam Scott, and
Dakota Johnson. But the most mesmerizing
performance is, of course, from Johnny Depp as Jimmy Bulger.
Depp has always
been one of the best actors in the business, but with the streak of
questionable role choices in awful films, people have somewhat forgotten. There’s actually more to him than playing
weird, eccentric roles behind make-up and prosthetics. Sure, he wears make-up and prosthetics in
this film, too, but this time, his character is someone that needs to be taken
seriously, and Depp did a fine job in delivering a gripping, layered portrayal. It’s really nice to be reminded that no
matter how awesome a character Captain Jack Sparrow is, Johnny Depp’s depth and
talent are not limited to such roles.
As for the movie
itself, Black Mass is pretty good,
but not great. Effort has been
noticeably put on the production value and the narrative is sufficiently
interesting, but the movie doesn’t really have much sophistication and
uniqueness. That said, though Black Mass isn’t exactly Goodfellas, it still holds as a riveting
mob tale. Plus, we can finally see Johny
Depp be great on screen again.
No comments:
Post a Comment