MYST #2: Black Mass

Everybody loves a Johnny Depp film, especially if it based on a true story. My grandmother really wished to see this film so my family and I went to go see it on a Tuesday at 5pm. Yeah you read that right. With no one else in the theater we got to enjoy the film to i's fullest without distractions. I haven't done any real research about this film except seeing the trailer in film studies. Also I knew it was a mob movie, so that's always a plus. We are greeted to a setting of 1975 in Massachusetts with the Winter Hill Gang talking to an FBI investigator recalling what happened in the years of trying to control the crime in South Boston. All of the gang members who were being interviewed admitted to the horrific things they did to become powerful in their hometown they grew up in. 

Throughout this film, it is all based around James "Whitey" Bulger, who is the leader of this whole organization. This gang was eventually charged with murder, extortion, racketeering, narcotics, and many more. Since this is film is based off of a true story I am glad they really focused on one component more then any of the others. And that is the makeup department. To fit the roles of each and every character to the actors makes the story better visually. To make Johnny Depp come off as the famed Boston gangster, they added prosthetics to the upper half of his face, multiple different headpieces to correctly match Whitey. Not only did they spend 20 hours on make up with Johnny, but they also gave him blue eye contact lenses to match Mr. Bulger's actual eye color. Now Johnny wasn't the only one who had to go through extensive time with make up.

Jesse Plemons was also told to gain weight and add a "spongy" look to make it seem normal and not just the weight to resemble Kevin Weeks. I find that makeup doesn't seem to be looked at carefully in movies, but if it is a true story, I like to see resemblances from the actors to the actual people they are based on.
Since this is a mob film expect to see killings, blood, sexual inferences, glass shattered, and much more to make you sit on the edge of your seat or cover your face in horror. There is once scene in particular that caught my attention by surprise and made me gasp a bit. Every crew member of Whitey knows that when Whitey gets his hands dirty it isn't pretty at all. The scene  where Brian Halloran(Sarsgaard) goes against the gang and rats them out to the FBI. The gang soon finds out and Whitey shows up to where Brian is at the time and shoots up the car he was in with a buddy. Whitey appears with a AK-47 shooting and walking directly at the car killing Brian's friend. Brian then puts the car in reverse and slams the pedal all the way till he bashes into the cars in the parking lot. Brian has been shot with the AK-47 bullets but is still alive. He then tries to escape the car by crawling out. Bad move. Whitey is getting closer and pulls out a pistol and bluntly shoots Brian and walks away with no rush. I found it important to the story because Whitey marked his territory and his name to the gang that nobody messes with them. Obviously back then it is easier to get away with crime like that if you are gone before the police show up.  

I see a few resemblances from this film to Wolf of Wall Street. First of which is the fact that they are both based on true stories that are recent. Also, they both start and end the same way. They both start with the ending and then go on to explain the story and then end with the official ending.

Whitey and Jordan Belfort seemed to be the leader of a group of people giving them what they want without a worry in the world.