Johnny Depp was a Great American Actor. Edward. Hunter S. Gilbert. Ed Wood. Guy with a coke problem in Blow.
Then came Jack Sparrow. Bolton sang about it and the movies made a ba-billion dollars. Johnny decided he was an A-List Blockbuster Tent-Pole Action Star instead of a Great American Actor. Just because he starred in three movies to make over a billion dollars worldwide. Oh, the delusions of the ego.
This A-List Blockbuster Tent-Pole Action Star moniker apparently drove Johnny a little kooky and confused and he relegated himself to roles that only required him to slather white makeup over his face and talk with a self-created accent. Mad Hatter. Dark Shadows. Tonto.
When he wasn’t parading around in White Face, he got even weirder with Mordecai and Tusk.
Is Johnny gone forever? Lost in the Hollywood Hills?
Is Black Mass the comeback role to flip the misbegotten A-List Blockbuster Tent-Pole Action Star back to the Great American Actor?
My answer is a resounding “Kinda” !!
“Whitey” Bulger is a juicy role and Depp delivers his most grounded and intriguing performance in over a decade. BUT that makeup!! Depp has to act through a distracting, face altering makeup that is akin to the Wayans Brothers in White Chicks. Again with the makeup? From White Face to Whitey, Johnny glues enough crap on this face to make him resemble an alien. I never saw a human. And it hurts an otherwise decent flick.
If you don’t know the Bulger story and the Winter Hill gang, I suggest you brush up with last year’s superior documentary Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger. It’s on Netflix at the time of this writing and it is fascinating. Black Mass focuses on the rise of Whitey beginning in the mid-70’s and tracks the story pretty much until the documentary takes over in the latter years of Bulger’s life.
Whitey was a straight psycho-murdering pig. Nice and simple put. He would kill any perceived threat. Lovers and “business partners” were buried, hands and teeth removed. Yet the community of South Boston idolized him and he was left free to do as he wished. Horrid stuff that becomes fascinating when the FBI aligns with the madman and pretty much gives him a license to kill with hopes that Bulger would lead them to the Italian Mafia. But by removing the competition, the FBI secured Bulger’s status as a crime kingpin with too much power.
Very interesting stuff and true. But aside from the prosthetic problem, director Scott Cooper never paints a vivid enough picture of the evil inside Bulger. The film touches on topics and has a few frightening scenes but it isn’t enough. Like Depp’s performance, there are glimpses of greatness throughout the film but the end product is a bit of a letdown.
Worth seeing? Absolutely. And I’d like to believe that this is a sign of better days for our boy Johnny. I miss him. But if one is to gaze into the IMDB , you may find that another Mad Hatter and Jack Sparrow is on the horizon. Long live the A-List Blockbuster Tent-Pole Action Star?
I give it a B Minus