And what’s worse is the fact that he hasn’t even really tried since Sweeney Todd came out in 2007. That’s eight years of just coasting through movies, playing the same "kooky" character over and over again. Hell, I’ve tried playing the laid back black guy who rides road bikes and wears Malcom X glasses for years and I still have to damn near juggle botchy balls at lunch just to get girls to pay attention to me! I both hate and love Depp at the same time!
But with that said, I have to admit that I was unbelievably excited when I saw he was playing James "Whitey" Bulger in Scott Cooper’s (Crazy Heart) Black Mass. Whitey’s story has always been an interesting one to me and I was just waiting for Hollywood to jump all over it. For those who don’t know, Bulger was a "Southie" gangster who rose to prominence in the 80’s by forming an alliance with the FBI; they would look the other way while he did his dirty work in return for him ratting on his competition.
He was able to do this because federal agent Scott Connolly, who was also from south side Boston, just so happened to grow up with Whitey and his brother Billy Bulger, the State Senator for Massachusetts at the time. Connolly used their relationship to advance his career by providing Whitey inside information in return for pertinent intel on the rival Italian mafia in town. And by ridding himself of the competition, this left the streets wide open for Whitey to take control.
Well for the first hour of the movie, Mass is your basic run of the mill gangster movie. Anyone who has ever seen Scarface, The Godfather, American Gangster, or any Sopranos episode ever, won’t be shocked or even remotely moved by anything that’s happening on screen. It’s not until the second act kicks in that you begin to see just how evil this man truly was.
Director Scott Cooper does an excellent job of presenting this biopic in a dark and grimy manner. It seems as if every shot was purposely filmed in a dark room or with an overcast sky; and the lack of color in the film (it’s not filmed in black and white by the way) just adds to the ominous nature of the story. Even when Whitey experiences tragedies in his life that would normally make you feel sympathy for him, you can still feel the wickedness oozing from his very being. And that is a credit to the aforementioned Depp.
Depp is the driving force behind this movie. He doesn’t do his usual bit where he adds some weird quirk to the character that totally doesn’t belong. He instead plays on and gets you to focus on everything that made Whitey so menacing in the first place: his posture, his dead tooth, and his seemingly white eyes. Just looking at guy makes you want to run the other way. Depp deserves every honor coming his way this awards season and trust me when I say that he will be up for quite a few.
I still believe that this movie ran about 20 minutes too long but is certainly was enjoyable. I give it a solid rating of FRESH!
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