What happened with gangster movies? It is as if there had been no good movie for this kind for a long time. Maybe there is no mafia anymore, maybe the mafia has just moved into the government, leaving the streets look seemingly clean. But the moment when the center of the criminal empire begins to shift to parliaments and federal bureaus is also intriguing and contains many dramatic stories. This is also benefiting "Black mass", Scott Cooper's movie ("Wild Heart" and "Out of the Furnace"). The film is an adaptation of the book by Dick Ler and Gerard O'Neill, which reveals the links of the federal bureau with the mob boss James "White" Bugger, one of the most wanted criminals, guilty for over nineteen murders.
1975 - Bulger is a small fish. John Connolly (Joel Eugarton) is an ambitious federal agent who gets the brilliant idea of proposing a union to Bugger. By providing valuable information about competition, the criminal will get some privileges on the street. Of course, everything goes out of control, and the brother of Bugger (Benedict Cumberbach), a senator who seeks to have nothing to do with his family, intervenes in the game. The first half of the film shows the mandatory dual nature of the criminal. The dangling animal that would do everything in the street at home turns into a loving father and a troubled son. These are the two family obligations that keep his humanity and when they disappear, there is nothing else but the primary survival instinct and the struggle for territory. Johnny Depp plays a role as he has not done for decades. It was shameful to watch him in Jack Sparrow's variations, and this movie is a testimony that hope is not quite lost. Although I share the universal enthusiasm, I can not help but point out that even with this realistic and deeply connected reality, Depp continues his tradition of using costumes and makeup to get into strange skin. I will leave your conclusions to you. An important point - makeup is good and at least it did not distract me from what's happening.
The best scene with Depp is the one with dinner and the secret of the family recipe. We saw it in one of the trailers. The way that Blair was joking, but not quite, reminded me of "The Jessie James Murder ..." and the scene in which Pete played Casey Affleck in a superb psychopathic way. In fact, it's not a James White movie, as the trailers and posters were unhelpful. We do not see much of the criminal's life. The myth around which people rotate speak and who try to satisfy, to the end remains in the shadows. We do not see how his business runs, even though the film starts from the period when Bulger is a small fish. There were no episodes in which the mob grew, setting out the rules of the organization, and the hero was slowly moving towards its predetermined end. The few personal scenes with Bugger stand like patches - an attempt at a more humorous portrait of the man accused of nineteen murders. Most of the film is being developed in the offices of the federal bureau. More politics and chattering. Oddly, where the budget of 50 million disappeared.
And since I'm going to talk about the negative sides, I will continue with the biggest problem. The film does not focus long enough on any aspect of the story. In some places we are engaged with Bugger, then with the limits of the loyalty of his people, then becomes a narrative of power and corrupt agents. This constant skipping leaves an inspiration for something crafty. The individual scenes are exceptional, but what needs to be connected is missing, and they begin to fall apart. The film starts with Bulger's personal driver, who then disappears completely. He is one of the people who betray his former boss. What has pushed him to this decision? Given is a very brief explanation that is unrelated to the relationship between the two. In the middle of the film, a new director was appointed to the federal bureau. One of the agents tells Connelly that this is an untapped machine. There should be problems. Here is a scene in which the director demonstrates his honesty and professional zeal, then, like the driver, he almost falls out of the movie. Kobarbatch is also wasted. Although for the first time I see him as a cold-blooded hypocritical politician, his character is not important enough. In fact, no one in this movie is important enough. And that's the big problem.
Connelly is the only interesting image. From the beginning, he understands what he is looking for and why he is looking for him, his character is full of blood and he is going through a real change (unlike the others). It is one of those nuanced images that go the wrong way and their descending is slow. The tragedy seems inevitable. I liked the last scene with Eugarton very much. No makeup tones were needed to sense what the hero feels. Scorsese is undoubtedly the father of the contemporary gangster film. Especially when it comes to boys on the streets looking for salvation and forced by circumstances to enter the vicious circle of crime. It is good to recognize this continuity by the great director, but there is a danger that respect will grow into a simple overwhelming recipe, making the final film a short copy. Not that "Black mass" is a bad movie. Not at all. It's just not terribly significant.
