BLACK MASS (2015)
Label: WBDHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 122 Minutes 31 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the book Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal by journalists Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, the true-crime thriller Black Mass (2015) stars Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands) as James "Whitey" Bulger, an Irish crime-lord of the Winter Hill Gang, controls most organized crime within South Boston, along with his right-hand man Stephen Flemmi (Rory Cochrane, Dazed and Confused). A former childhood associate of Bulger's named John Connolly (Joel Edgerton, The Thing) is now an FBI agent working out of the Boston home office, he meets with and persuades Bulger to collaborate with the FBI to become an informant, with Bulger seeing this is a way to eliminate their common enemy, the Italian mob, by way of the North End-based Angiulo Brothers.
Directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the book Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal by journalists Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, the true-crime thriller Black Mass (2015) stars Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands) as James "Whitey" Bulger, an Irish crime-lord of the Winter Hill Gang, controls most organized crime within South Boston, along with his right-hand man Stephen Flemmi (Rory Cochrane, Dazed and Confused). A former childhood associate of Bulger's named John Connolly (Joel Edgerton, The Thing) is now an FBI agent working out of the Boston home office, he meets with and persuades Bulger to collaborate with the FBI to become an informant, with Bulger seeing this is a way to eliminate their common enemy, the Italian mob, by way of the North End-based Angiulo Brothers.
Black Mass tells the story of this unholy alliance, and how things eventually spiraled out of control, but not before this team-up with the FBI allowed Bulger to not only evade law-enforcement for his own crimes, but to have them help stamp out his Italian rivals. Admittedly I'm not too well-versed in the Bulger story other than I remember seeing news reports about it growing up on the nightly news, so I am not coming into this with a lot of knowledge about the facts of the case, and I didn't watch it so much as a true-crime story so much as just a crime thriller.
I thought Depp was terrific as the charismatic but cold-blooded Bulger, he obviously likes sinking into a role through make-up effects and transformation, from Edward Scissorhands, on through to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dark Shadows, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even his bizarre cameo in Kevin Smith's maligned Yoga Hosers, the guy just seems to like burying himself in the make-up, and transforming from there, and here he is transformed into quite a frightening individual here. A real cold-blooded charmer prone to violent outbursts, beating, strangling and shooting those who have done him wrong, or might later prove to be a loose thread that needs to be pruned before they unravel to the authorities.
FBI agent John Connolly is easily corrupted by his association with Bulger, getting credit for taking down the Italian mob with the help of his informant Bulger, but also feeding Bulger intel that helps him eliminate enemies and friends who might be turning on him, who's informing for whom here? Bulger is cutthroat about his dealings, even strangling the step-daughter/lover (Juno Temple, TV's Fargo) of his right hand man Flemmi right in front of him after she spends the night in jail where she might have spilled the beans. Connolly's superior Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon, X-Men First Class) and Fred Wyshak (Corey Stoll, Ant-Man) become increasingly suspicious of his association with crime lord Bulger, and this triggers a deeper investigation that doesn't end well for the the agent, not his partner John Morris (David Harbour, Netflix's Stranger Things), who himself has become caught up in his partner's criminal activity.
The flick also has a terrific supporting cast including Dakota Johnson (Madame Web) as Bulger's girlfriend,
Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Eastown) as Connolly's put-upon wife, and of course a variety of notable associates of Bulgers, including his influential politician brother Billy Bulger played by Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, and seedy characters like Kevin Week (Jesse Plemons, Game Night), Brian Halloran (Peter Sarsgaard, Garden State), and the fat-fingered hitman Johnny Martorano (W. Earl Brown, AMC's Preacher).
It's a crime thriller in the mold of some of Scorsese's masterpieces, but this one does not quite muster the pull of a Casino or Goodfellas, but it's there with Mean Streets. I feel it's certainly deserving of more love from the cinema masses as I rarely hear this one talked about, and hopefully this UHD release gets more eyes on it. I think part of the reason is that what we get feels very tropey, it's well done, but it doesn't bring much new to the table, these true-crime sagas tend to all sort of go only a couple of different ways, and there are no surprises here, but that does not mean it's not compelling, it just means it doesn't earn it's place in the top-tier of the rankings, so it gets a spot at the table, just not at the head of the table.
The film does good work fleshing out the characters a bit and their motivations, while not exactly painting them in a good light it humanizes them, getting into the tragic death of Bulger's son and then his mother and how that affected him. The film is told in flashback for the most part, as told by those who turned on Bulger when it all came crashing down during interrogation by the FBI. The film is nicely stylized, it has a earthy, gritty look to it that suits the material quite well. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good crime-thriller, it delivers the goods with some potent moments of mob-violence and a terrific cast lead by a never more terrifying Depp.
Audio/Video: Black Mass (2015) arrives on Blu-ray from WBDHE in 2160p UHD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen with Dolby Vision (HDR) color-grading. The film looks solid in UHD, though I would not say it was a huge improvement over the Blu-ray The WGC color-grading deepens blacks, there's marginal improvement in contrast, but the WGC color-grade is very low-key, and the image is generally a tad darker than the previous Blu-ray, but thankfully shadow detail is more nuanced and delineation looks solid. Grain structures are intact throughout, and fine detail is pleasing as well.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, it's not an overly immersive surround track but it does the job, the Southie accents are usually easy to decipher, and the occasional moments of gunfire and violence are full-bodies, and the score from Tom Holkenborg (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) sound terrific.
We get the same set of extras as the 2016 Blu-ray release, these include the 62-min The Manhunt for Whitey Bulger which is a documentary about the manhunt for Bulger, which I found quite interesting, plus we get the 12-min
Johnny Depp: Becoming Whitey Bulger where Depp talks about becoming the character, having limited resources as far as audio and video of Bulger, and how the imprisoned crime-lord through his lawyer refused to meet with the actor because he was not a fan of the book the film was based on, The last of the extras is the 23-min Black Mass: Deepest Cover, Darkest Crime, an overall look at the production featuring input from Director/Producer Scott Cooper, Producers John Lesher, Brian Oliver, and Patrick McCormick, “Black Mass” Co-Authors Gerard O’Neill and Dick Lehr, plus stars Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Joel Edgerton.
The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. There is no slipcover or digital code, just the UHD disc.
Special Features:
- The Manhunt for Whitey Bulger (61:69)
- Johnny Depp: Becoming Whitey Bulger (12:21)
- Black Mass: Deepest Cover, Darkest Crime (22:59)
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