Gire: Depp gives killer performance in 'Black Mass'
The eyes: Cold. Dead. Sharklike.
The teeth: Discolored. Decayed. Sharp.
The hair: Oily. Thinning. Taut.
And the voice: Raspy. Lulling. Dangerous.
Johnny Depp's transformative shift into feared Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger marks a career high for the actor who has finally regained his magic touch for portraying well-defined, memorable characters.
After bold but underwhelming choices in such disappointments as "The Lone Ranger," "Mortdecai," "Transcendence" and as the wolf from "Into the Woods," Depp creates the most sinisterly serpentine character I've ever seen in movies.
His Whitey Bulger combines the soothing seduction of the biblical serpent from Genesis with the lethal strike of a common rattlesnake.
In short, a masterful interpretation of Bulger, the truly ruthless South Boston crime boss who reigned from the mid-1970s until 1994 when he fled underground to avoid arrest by the feds.
"Black Mass" director Scott Cooper arrives as a major cinematic figure in this fact-inspired drama, one that blends Cooper's strong sense of characterization from his "Crazy Heart" (2009) with the gritty violence from his 2013 thriller "Out of the Furnace."
Watching "Black Mass" might inspire a sense of déjà vu because of its formula rise-and-fall gangster plot. The drama feels too familiar to achieve true greatness.
Yet, an impeccable cast, cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi's sinewy visuals and Stefania Cella's spot-on period production designs (except for some early '80s kitchen cabinets used in a '70s setting) infuse "Black Mass" with historical heft and dramatic immediacy.
"Black Mass" is told by state witnesses in voice-over testimonies given to an unidentified federal agent.
They piece together the story of how the FBI unwittingly helped Bulger eliminate his competition - the Italian gangsters on the north side - while making him virtually untouchable on the south.
FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton, fresh from his directorial debut "The Gift") grew up with Bulger and his brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch), now a powerful Massachusetts state senator.
The ambitious Connolly initiates the idea to his boss (Kevin Bacon) and partners (David Harbour and Adam Scott) to create an alliance with Bulger's infamous Winter Hill gang to eradicate the Italian mob, something the feds haven't been able to do.
This already bad idea gains momentum when Connolly secures Bulger's promise he won't kill anyone while cooperating with the FBI. The desperate feds go for the deal.
And we can pretty much guess what happens. As Bulger uses his protected status to rise to the top of the South Boston heap, Connolly slides from well-intentioned cop into an unthinking informant for Bulger and his operations in vending machines, gambling, drugs and murder.
If there can be a sympathetic view of corruption, "Black Mass" is it.
Out of the actors who serve as Bulger's enforcers, Jesse Plemons stands out as a striking henchmen with a bulldogged face made for film noir. (Rory Cochrane, W. Earl Brown and Scott Anderson play other Bulger satellites.)
Dakota Johnson appears as Bulger's unusually youthful girlfriend and mother of his 6-year-old son, whose death triggers her never-explained sudden departure.
Peter Sarsgaard brings addled confusion and fear to his sociopathic businessman appointed to help with one of Bulger's business dealings.
Then, Julianne Nicholson plays Connolly's intelligent, plain-Jane wife, who feels mismatched for such a superficial, self-centered husband.
Occasionally, characters are prone to spouting ridiculously purple dialogue: "The vice is closing in on us!" and "We drove a stake through the black heart of the Mafia!"
But these verbal winces represent minor distractions in a crime drama dominated by Depp's slithery Bulger, both a snake and a charmer.
“Black Mass”
★ ★ ★ ½
Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott, Rory Cochrane, Julianne Nicholson
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated R for drug use, language, violence. 122 minutes