Drama

Crime

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Black Mass

Vendian Entertainment

Infinitum Nihil

Head Gear Films

Cross Creek Pictures

Free State Pictures

RatPac Entertainment

Le Grisbi Productions

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

Johnny Depp

Joel Edgerton

Julianne Nicholson

Dakota Johnson

Kevin Bacon

Benedict Cumberbatch

Peter Sarsgaard

Juno Temple

Jesse Plemons

David Harbour

Adam Scott

Corey Stoll

Bill Camp

Mark Mahoney

Brad Carter

Scott G. Anderson

Lonnie Farmer

Mary Klug

Erica McDermott

Luke Ryan

Owen Burke

Lewis D. Wheeler

Billy Meleady

Jamie Donnelly

David De Beck

Gary Galone

Rory Cochrane

James Russo

Danae Nason

Bretton Manley

Berglind Jonsdottir

David Conley

Ciaran Crawford

Thomas Philip O'Neill

Joey Vacchio

Bill Haims

Anthony Molinari

Declan Mulvey

Bates Wilder

Marc Carver

Richard Donelly

Brian A. White

Peter Morse

Tom Kemp

Patrick M. Walsh

Naheem Garcia

Kathryn A. Beauchamp

Stephen Curran

Darin X.L. MacEachern

Cary 'Big Shug' Guy

Sean Malone

Jack Neary

Jimmy Joe Maher

Forry Buckingham

Danny DeMiller

Michael F. Murphy

Alexander Cook

Ava Cooper

Stella Cooper

Arthur Hiou

Todd Ryan Jones

Julie Ann Dawson

Fergaledgar

Robert E. Walsh

W. Earl Brown

Jim Powers

Jeff Kamps

Susan Garfield

Colleen Kelly

Tom Williams

Scott Cooper

Lauren Selig

James Packer

David Rosenbloom

Gary Granstaff

Jez Butterworth

Stefania Cella

Patrick McCormick

Brett Ratner

Ray Mallouk

Mark Mallouk

Tyler Thompson

Brian Oliver

Brett Granstaff

Compton Ross

Masanobu Takayanagi

John Lesher

Phil Hunt

Kasia Walicka Maimone

Peter Mallouk

Hannah Scott

Jonny Winograd

Chris Jenkins

Mark Mangini

Gerard O'Neill

Claire Folger

Tracy Scott

Tom Holkenborg

Virginia B. Johnson

Gloria Pasqua Casny

Byron Wilson

Dick Lehr

Piero Mura

Ann Scibelli

Jim Schultz

Ron Bartlett

Tracey A. Doyle

Jeremy Woodward

Ezra Dweck

Don Hewitt Sr.

Francine Maisler

Khanh Trance

Morris Flam

Scott D. Davis

Sarah Contant

Joel Harlow

Matt Bouldry

Jason Mayoh

Lucia Mace

Riley Fearon

Melissa Kostenbauder

Brittany Loar

Rita Troy

Robert 'Rock' Galotti

Henry Tirl

James W. Apted

Greg Wimer

Nikki Pleau

Allison Paul

Joseph Kearney

John Polyson

Paul Linden

Romulo Adriano Jr.

Don Libby

Chuck Jeffreys

Adam Kassan

Richard Mirisch

Chuck Rock

Christopher Woodrow

Steven Mnuchin

Michael Bassick

David Gulick

Jill Brown

Woody Bell

Noah Dubreuil

Zachary Zablocki

Bryan Felty

Donald Burghardt

Bobby Anderson

Derek Contrado

Xanthus Valan

Tony Campenni

Clinton E. O'Dell

Joanna Raskin

Brendan Tierney

Cesha Ventre

Robert Schleinig

Wilson Gallego

Joe Gagnepain

Thomas Doran

Ben Bornstein

Dean Egan

Zack Shultz

Michele Ziegler

Steve Brennan

Jason Coffey

Bulger's playing us, making a fool of the Bureau. We're in too deep, and he knows it! God help us all. 

Black Mass is the story of Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp), who was the brother of a state senator and the infamous violent leader of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang. It charts his criminal activities and his subsequent dealings with the FBI.

Directed by Scott Cooper, Black Mass is one of those instances where a great lead performance deserves a better over all film. Depp literally inhabits the role of Bulger in a fully formed perf that reminds us of what a fine actor he can be. Unfortunately the edgy material to hand never really ignites in filmic form. Maybe we were spoilt by the offerings of Coppola and Scorsese previously? For this comes off as a cheap imitation of far greater films, with the crafters of the pic giving us something of a caricature piece.

Although compelling as a lead character study, much of the narrative is rendered as playing it safe, putting emotive heart where it doesn't belong. Most of the support characters, and key to the story, are under developed, while the pace is decidedly attention sapping and not adroitly understated. Nevertheless, we do get good acting perfs to support Depp, notably Joel Edgerton as corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, while Masanobu Takayanagi's (Hostiles) cinematography is delicate of moody hues.

There's a fascinating story trying to get out of this, but the 15 year wait to get it to screen hasn't been worth it. There's some truly electric scenes, but they are few and far between, which gives us ultimately just a compact and safe piece of gangster film making. 5/10

Second time watching this and honestly outside a couple of scenes, I barely remembered anything. Thought the acting was fine, as was the direction but considering the cast that included Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon and others, thought what an epic crime-thriller could've been instead was a solid enough film but not much more than that. Also, the make-up job done on Depp was distracting more than anything. **3.5/5**

Not as bad as Depps other true life stories, but nothing great that you'll want to explore more then once. If you're watching for Cumberbatch, he's barely in it. I get they were using him in the marketing and on talk shows. But the clips shown on chat shows and shots in trailers are every scene he's in. Once again the US government and the people who work for it are corrupt. Big surprise.

London Film Festival Gala

Black Mass introduction with Johnny Depp  | BFI

Black Mass - Virgin Atlantic Gala HIGHLIGHTS | BFI London Film Festival

Academy Conversations: Black Mass with actors Johnny Depp, Dakota Johnson and Julianne Nicholson

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Black Mass

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Cast

Johnny Depp

Joel Edgerton

Julianne Nicholson

Dakota Johnson

Kevin Bacon

Benedict Cumberbatch

Peter Sarsgaard

Juno Temple

Jesse Plemons

David Harbour

Box office

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