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With 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (the fourth in the franchise) and 2012’s Dark Shadows (his eighth collaboration with Tim Burton), many fans had given up on Johnny Depp. The erstwhile heir to Pacino and DeNiro, who had electrified, stupefied, and shown his range in Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, seemed to vanish beneath makeup, prosthetics, and green screen. On paper, Black Mass, Scott Cooper’s take on the rise and fall of James “Whitey” Bulger, seems to offer Depp his greatest role in almost a decade. Bulger is a man who spent twelve years on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, who was found guilty of thirty-one counts of racketeering and money laundering, and who had been considered a “Robin Hood” figure by some citizens in South Boston. It is a shame then that his performance, while committed and undeniably mesmerizing in parts, is not entirely original. The same could be said of Black Mass as a whole.

 

Set in South Boston during the mid-70s and 80s, Cooper’s film charts the alliance between Bulger and the ambitious FBI agent, James Connelly (a fantastic Joel Edgerton), that led to the eradication of the Mafia, and to the rise of Bulger’s “Winter Hill Gang”. Cooper relies too heavily on clichéd gangster film tropes, such as using interrogation room scenes as a framing device or the vicious gangster beloved by the neighbourhood, to make his film truly stand out. However, scenes of gangland violence are entertaining, and his prowess with actors is undeniable. The underused Benedict Cumberbatch, playing former politician and Bulger’s younger brother Billy, and Julianne Nicholson, playing Connelly’s wife, deliver some of their best work. Surprisingly, it is the aforementioned Edgerton who has the best arc, playing the role with a mix of sensitivity and hubris.

 

With a slightly overlong script that excels in showing Bulger’s home life, Black Mass will more than likely be remembered as a return to form for Depp, and could very well earn him an Oscar nomination next year. One can only hope the members of the Academy pay as much attention to Edgerton’s subtle, award-worthy work.