Movie · 2015 · Drama, Crime, History · 2h 3m · R · English
Curator score: 3.5/10 (327.6K ratings)
Keep your enemies close.
Overview
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.5/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.14/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Metacritic: 68
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Scott Cooper
Production
Vendian Entertainment, Infinitum Nihil, Head Gear Films, Cross Creek Pictures, Free State Pictures, RatPac Entertainment
Cast
Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Julianne Nicholson, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Sarsgaard, Juno Temple, Jesse Plemons, David Harbour, Adam Scott, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp, Mark Mahoney, Brad Carter, Scott G. Anderson, Lonnie Farmer, Mary Klug, Erica McDermott, Luke Ryan
Curator Review
Verdict
A solid but familiar crime drama elevated by committed performances, especially Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton. It’s worth watching if you’re drawn to true-crime underworld stories and procedural tension, but the film’s conventional structure and muted energy keep it from feeling essential.
Best for
Viewers who like grim, fact-based gangster dramas
Fans of performance-driven crime films
People interested in Boston organized-crime history
Anyone who prefers tense, grounded crime over flashy mob-movie style
Skip if
You want a fresh or especially stylish gangster film
You’re looking for a fast-paced crime thriller
You’re bored by biographical crime stories that hit familiar beats
You need a movie with a strong emotional core or big thematic depth
Overview
Black Mass is the kind of crime film that knows how to look and sound serious, and it has the cast to justify that seriousness. Johnny Depp’s transformation into Whitey Bulger is the main attraction: controlled, eerie, and often genuinely unsettling. Joel Edgerton gives the movie its most human pulse as the FBI agent pulled into Bulger’s orbit, and the supporting players help sell the world of South Boston menace and corruption.
Worth noting
What holds it back is familiarity. The film moves through its rise-and-fall machinery with competence but not much surprise, and the atmosphere can feel more dutiful than immersive. It has the ingredients of a great gangster saga, but the storytelling is more procedural than epic, more efficient than revelatory.
Bottom line
Still, if you’re in the mood for a bleak American crime story anchored by strong performances and a real-life monster at its center, it delivers enough to hold attention. It’s not a top-tier entry in the genre, but it is an effective one, especially for viewers who value character work over swagger.
Top Letterboxd reviews
ghostdinosaur (0.5★) · 992 likes
Early on in the film a bunch of gangsters are hanging out in a car and one of them starts to tell a story about how he heard porn stars in Los Angeles eat a bunch of celery right before they perform. He gets interrupted and never explains why they do this. I was more interested in hearing the end of that story than anything that happened over the next 100 minutes of movie.
matt lynch (2.5★) · 483 likes
Scott Cooper is evidently very good at letting famous actors do whatever they want in classy but largely generic films. Here Johnny Depp gives yet another idiosyncratic, physical performance as a charismatic psycho, and who the fuck cares?
Evan (3.5★) · 181 likes
Johnny Depp might still be covered in make-up for this role, but at least he's not running around like a babbling idiot. Instead he plays a very dark, heartless, and brutal man and he knocks it out of the park. Black Mass is filled with fantastic performances, Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton being the standouts.
My biggest issue with this film is that it's a bit hollow and slow moving. While, I was always interested in what was going on, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bored some of the time.
Michael James (2.5★) · 142 likes
The biographical crime drama gets let down by its generic approach and bland narrative. Though it lines up one true event after the other, it seems to miss the much needed gripping factor. Even if the flow was deliberate, it needed more excitement hold given the two hour runtime. Johnny Depp is about the only saving grace, who manages to single handedly hold it in the watchable territory with his outstanding performance. An ok watch.
Gonzo (4★) · 136 likes
▶ 2015 Movie Rankings
"Strictly criminal."
Welcome back, Mr. Depp.
We missed ya. We fucking missed ya.
Johnny Depp comes out of retirement and shoots straight to the front of the Oscar race with one of his most impressive performances yet.
That Whitey Bulger is one interesting individual. A complex criminal that's both charismatic ("Oh, look, he likes helping the elderly." "Aw, he loves his kid and his family.") and downright terrifying. ("Oh no, he's giving that dude the talk.… more