Johnny Depp is superb in this film. He takes on this entirely knew, slimy quality that is a great deviation from the parts he normally plays and is really magnetic on screen.
The other performances are also commendable, most notably Benedict Cumberbatch who has a pretty decent Boston accent. However they never feel anywhere near as interesting to watch as Depp which makes the scenes without him feel somewhat lacking.
Technically this movie is also great with solid camerawork and art direction. The scrip and screenplay are also both pretty good but nothing that will set it apart from the likes of other gangster movies, not even its big contender 'Legend' that released earlier this year.
There is one glaring problem with this film that stopped me enjoying it nearly as much as I wanted to, this being the lack of soul.
I know that is quite a pretentious thing to say but it's true, there was no sense of an artistic passion from the people behind the cameras that you get with so many of the great films. This left us with a technically very good movie but one that is just not that engaging with the audience and has almost no re-watch-ability.
With this in mind I would say go and see Black Mass if you either really love the gangster genre or a single superb performance is enough to draw you to a film. Otherwise there wont be much to enjoy for the masses in Back Mass as, whether they know it or not, artistic passion seeping through the camera to the audience is what gets them to really connect with movies.
Thanks for reading this Quick Thoughts.
Soon I will posting my own made up awards for different categories, kinda like the Oscars but a bit more ridiculous. It should be a fun one.
-Joe
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