The dual-layer DVD and 50GB Blu-ray are housed inside an eco-friendly Elite keepcase along with an insert containing a code for an UltraViolet digital copy of the movie. 'Black Mass' shoots its way onto home video in this Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack. I don't think this performance comes close to the one he gave in the outstanding Donnie Brasco, but he's extremely watchable here, and for that reason – if for few others – this title is worth a look. Still, even with all the story problems, 'Black Mass' is worth a look just to see Johnny Depp actually act 's been too long. I guess since not a whole lot is known about those years, the movie doesn't want to speculate – but the film really has a feeling of a story that ends when it really should be reaching its mid-way point (Bulger's arrest is shown at the very end of the movie in a quick sequence, but his years on the run are skipped over). It also would have been nice to have seen what happened to Bulger when he went on the run. Why does he do what he does? Why (other than the fact that he's pretty brutal) does he invoke so much loyalty from those near him and fear from those outside his circle? As good as Depp is here, what really makes Bulger tick is never truly examined. If Connolly's motivations are illusive, the same can also be said – at least to some degree – about Bulger. Is it loyalty? Does he think it's his ticket to a more prestigious position? Is it the lure of being involved in crime? We're never quite sure.and Edgerton plays Connolly like an incompetent schmuck most of the of time, which certainly can't be true of the real man, who was a distinguished agent by the time he started working with Bulger as an informant. The movie is loaded with some great character actors, but they aren't given a whole lot of interesting things to do by the screenwriters.Ĭooper's movie also does a pretty poor job of conveying why exactly Connolly bends over backwards to protect Bulger, even when it's obvious that it's going to destroy his career. All the pieces are in place, but other than Depp, the performances here sort of fall flat. It's obvious that Director Scott Cooper has seen one too many Martin Scorsese movies, as 'Black Mass' tries to be a poor man's GoodFellas, but never has the energy or the flow to even compare to Scorsese's classic mob hit. Connolly makes him promise not to kill anyone.a promise every member of the audience knows will not be kept. Bulger agrees to the deal, but insists he's not being a rat. He talks his superiors into using Bulger as an informant to help bring an Italian-run crime syndicate in the city to justice. In the late 1970s, Bulger is head of an organized crime group in Boston known as the White Hill Gang and one of the FBI's agents in Boston, John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), not only knows Bulger, but was friends with him growing up. The movie is based on the book of the same name and focuses not on the many years that Bulger was in hiding, but the events that sent him on the run in the first place. Depp's Bulger is fun to watch because you can tell he's always teetering on the edge between man and monster – so when he does explode, it's not so much a shock as it is a release of pent-up energy. The balance here is pretty perfect.viewers will never fall in love with Whitey the way they have with lead characters in other mob-related movies, but they'll never hate him so much that they despise his presence. It's just too bad that the movie around Depp isn't deserving of his performance.ĭonning a skull cap, contact lenses, and teeth that will make you run to the orthodontist (Johnny hasn't lost his love for hiding under prosthetics), Depp plays Bulger as both a hardened criminal and a man with a code of honor. Although he shouldn't, he surprises us in 'Black Mass' with an immersive, impressive performance paying organized crime boss James 'Whitey' Bulger. Johnny Depp has spent so many years playing dress-up for Tim Burton and Disney in various roles that most of us had forgotten the range of his acting skills.
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