--- title: "Black Mass" year: 2015 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/black-mass" fi1m_id: "black-mass" imdb_id: "tt1355683" tmdb_id: 261023 wikidata_id: "Q16971610" fi1m_score: 58 critics_score: 57 critics_reviews: 29 published: "2026-10-02T22:32:52.957500+00:00" updated: "2026-10-02T22:33:00.519669+00:00" region: "HK" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Black Mass (2015) Directed by Scott Cooper · 2h 03m · Drama, Crime, History ## Identity Black Mass - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/black-mass - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** black-mass - **IMDb ID:** tt1355683 - **TMDB ID:** 261023 - **Wikidata ID:** Q16971610 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355683/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/261023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16971610 **Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 57 from 29 reviews *In a sentence:* A gangster film whose scariest moment is a man asking politely for a marinade recipe > Scott Cooper’s account of Whitey Bulger and the FBI man who protected him has a frightening Johnny Depp at its centre and not much around him. Four or five scenes are as tense as the genre gets; the rest is a list of things that happened. ## Synopsis South Boston, 1975. James ‘Whitey’ Bulger (Johnny Depp) runs the Winter Hill Gang from a corner bar, while his younger brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) sits in the Massachusetts State Senate. John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), an FBI agent who grew up on the same streets, comes home with a proposal: Bulger feeds the Bureau information on the Italian mob in the North End, and the Bureau leaves Bulger alone. Connolly’s boss Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon) and his colleague John Morris (David Harbour) sign off on it. His wife Marianne (Julianne Nicholson) does not like what it does to him. With the FBI looking the other way, Bulger and his lieutenant Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons) start taking the city, and Weeks, years later, is telling all of it to federal agents in a grey room. ## Review Scott Cooper’s *Black Mass* tells how the FBI’s Boston office made a deal with the most dangerous man in South Boston and then protected him for years. The film has a frightening performance at its centre, four or five properly tense scenes, and a long middle in which men in rooms tell each other what we have just watched. We came out impressed by Johnny Depp and unable to say what the film made of him. Depp plays James ‘Whitey’ Bulger under a thinning slick of hair, grey teeth and pale blue contact lenses that make his eyes look like something kept in a jar. Once he starts to talk, quietly, the face stops mattering. He plays Bulger as a man who never hurries, who carries an old woman’s shopping up her steps, who tells his small son that if nobody saw a thing it did not happen. There is no bid for our sympathy. It is the stillest work Depp has done in years. Two scenes show what the film could have been. In one, Bulger comes to dinner at the home of John Morris (David Harbour), the FBI supervisor who has been taking his money, admires the steak and asks for the marinade recipe. Morris calls it a family secret, then gives it up, and Bulger asks softly what else he would give up if someone asked nicely. In the other, Connolly’s wife Marianne (Julianne Nicholson) goes to bed to avoid a party and Bulger follows her upstairs to ask how she is feeling. We were properly frightened both times, because nobody raised a voice. Cooper holds on Depp’s face and lets the silence sit. He does not do it often enough. The story belongs to John Connolly, and Joel Edgerton knows it. Connolly grew up on the same streets as the Bulgers, and Edgerton plays him as the kid still waiting for the older boys to let him in: loud in the office, lit up whenever Whitey calls him Johnny, blind to what the deal costs. Kasia Walicka Maimone’s costumes do much of the work, moving him from a plain Bureau suit to wider lapels and open collars as the favours pile up. But the screenplay, by Jez Butterworth and Mark Mallouk, would rather tell us he is in trouble than let us watch it happen. His superiors, played by Kevin Bacon and Adam Scott, warn him in one scene after another. Nicholson gets three scenes and makes them count. Dakota Johnson, as Bulger’s girlfriend Lindsey Cyr, gets fewer. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Billy Bulger, a state senator with a gangster for a brother, and the script gives him functions to attend and an accent that comes and goes. Masanobu Takayanagi shoots Boston in brown and grey, kitchens lit by one lamp, streets under cloud. It looks right, and it looks the same in every scene, so the years pass without the picture changing and we were often unsure which decade we were in. Stefania Cella’s bars and triple-decker houses are properly worn. Junkie XL’s score is low strings and not much else; it has one mood and stays in it. David Rosenbloom cuts between the past and a grey interview room where Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons) talks to federal agents, and Weeks keeps explaining things the scenes have already shown. Past the hour the killings arrive on a schedule: a man, a car, a shot, a cut to the interview room, the next man. None of them shocked us, because we have never been told what Bulger wants beyond the next thing in front of him. Martin Scorsese already made a Bulger film, [*The Departed*](https://film.one/film/the-departed) (2006), as a thriller with invented names. Cooper has the real names and the real deal and has made something slower and flatter. He is good with actors and good with silence. He has not yet found a script with a shape. See it for Depp, for the dinner and for the bedroom. It carries a 15 certificate and runs 123 minutes, and perhaps twenty of those are the reason to sit through the rest. *Fi1m score 58, published 2 October 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews split almost evenly between praise, reservation and dismissal. Where most critics agree is on Johnny Depp. His Whitey Bulger is called restrained, chilling and unsettling by those who like the film and by several who do not, and a tense dinner scene is picked out more than once. Joel Edgerton, as the FBI agent John Connolly, is the second most-praised element, and a few prefer his anxious double life to Depp’s clinical menace. The reservations cluster on the storytelling. Many find the film emotionally hollow, its central relationship underdeveloped and its structure episodic, a generic gangster biopic with heavy exposition and wobbly Boston accents. The spread is wide, from warm admiration to one-star dismissal. The Evening Standard’s David Sexton dissents on Depp, finding the performance repellent and alienating, while the New Yorker’s Richard Brody argues the film ignores the city’s racial politics and the school-busing crisis in particular. ## Straight answers **Is Black Mass worth watching?** *Black Mass* is worth watching for Johnny Depp's performance as Whitey Bulger and for four or five scenes as tense as the genre gets, and we scored it 58. Between those scenes it is a slow, flat list of things that happened, with men in rooms explaining what we have already seen. See it for Depp, not for the story around him. **How long is Black Mass, and what is it rated?** *Black Mass* runs 2h 03m. It is a drama and crime film. **Where can I watch Black Mass in Hong Kong?** *Black Mass* is streaming on Netflix in Hong Kong, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from HK$28.00. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Black Mass, and is it suitable for children?** *Black Mass* carries a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children. The killings arrive on a schedule in the second half, each one quick and matter-of-fact, and the film's most frightening moments are quiet ones: Bulger asking politely for a marinade recipe, or following a woman upstairs to ask how she is feeling. The squeamish will cope; the nervous may not. **How does Black Mass compare to Donnie Brasco?** *Black Mass* and [*Donnie Brasco*](https://film.one/film/donnie-brasco) both put Johnny Depp beside an informant's deal, but on opposite sides of the table, and the earlier film is the better of the two. *Donnie Brasco* makes the danger hurt through an uneasy friendship between Depp and Al Pacino; *Black Mass* has a stiller, more frightening Depp and far less around him. Start with *Donnie Brasco*. **What should I watch after Black Mass?** After *Black Mass*, try [*Donnie Brasco*](https://film.one/film/donnie-brasco) (1997, Fi1m 84): Depp on the other side of the informant table, and the deal costs him just as much. Then [*The Departed*](https://film.one/film/the-departed) (2006, Fi1m 84): Scorsese takes the Bulger story, changes the names and turns it into a thriller with a pulse; and [*Gomorrah*](https://film.one/film/gomorrah) (2008, Fi1m 84): Naples instead of Southie; organised crime as plumbing, with no one stylish in sight. ### Reviews we read (29) - **Variety**, Scott Foundas (85/100, inferred): Foundas delivers a strongly positive verdict, calling the crime drama taut and deeply engrossing. He especially praises Johnny Depp’s restrained, mesmerizing performance as Whitey Bulger. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/black-mass-review-johnny-depp-whitey-bulger-1201570428/) - **Total Film**, Neil Smith (4/5): The critic finds the film enthralling despite occasional jarring accents and underdeveloped female characters. He especially praises Johnny Depp’s chilling performance and the charged dialogue scenes. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/black-mass-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (78/100, inferred): Turan finds the film bleak and compelling, with Johnny Depp delivering some of his most chilling work. He particularly praises Depp’s transformation into Bulger, while noting that the oppressive material limits the film’s emotional reach. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-black-mass-review-20150917-column.html) - **The AV Club**, Jesse Hassenger (B): Hassenger finds the film absorbing and well-made, but says it lacks an emotional core and a distinctive story. He praises Depp’s understated, memorable performance and Cooper’s confident, menacing direction. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/black-mass-features-an-understated-gangster-turn-from-j-1798184877) - **Empire**, Chris Hewitt (75/100, inferred): Hewitt finds the film compelling and powerfully acted, with enough distinction to avoid familiar gangster-movie clichés. He singles out Joel Edgerton’s performance while noting that Johnny Depp’s striking appearance can distract from his portrayal. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/black-mass-review/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (75/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the film confident, nasty and highly watchable, with a pessimistic account of corruption. He especially praises the absorbing performances by Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/04/black-mass-review-compelling-true-drama-is-mighty-comeback-for-johnny-depp) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (B-): Kohn finds the film often dreary and one-note, but says Johnny Depp’s performance makes it frighteningly compelling. He singles out Depp’s menacing presence and the tense dinner scene as the film’s strongest elements. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/telluride-review-johnny-depp-is-trying-something-very-different-in-black-mass-58501/) - **Screen Daily**, Lee Marshall (64/100, inferred): The accessible page identifies this as a review but does not reveal the critic’s verdict. The paywall also hides what the critic singled out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/black-mass-review/5092530.article) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (64/100, inferred): The article is a review of the film, but its critical verdict cannot be verified from the blocked page. The available page text offers no details about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/movies/review-black-mass-with-johnny-depp-as-the-dead-eyed-killer-whitey-bulger.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Matt Zoller Seitz (2.5/4): Seitz finds the film effective but not fully successful. He singles out Johnny Depp’s performance as a strength. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-mass-2015) - **Radio Times**, Stella Papamichael (3/5): The review praises Johnny Depp’s performance as one of his best in years. It also highlights how the FBI alliance lets Whitey Bulger grow increasingly powerful. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-k0ktu9/black-mass/) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): The review presents the film as an entertaining mobster drama, especially for viewers missing Scorsese’s crime films. It singles out its appeal as a satisfying alternative in that genre. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/black-mass) - **Slant Magazine**, Christopher Gray (2/4): The critic finds the film dour and structurally shallow, unable to make its central relationship emotionally resonant. He praises Joel Edgerton’s portrayal of Connolly’s anxious double life as a shrewd contrast with Johnny Depp’s clinical Bulger. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/black-mass/) - **Little White Lies**, Vadim Rizov (3/2/2): Rizov finds the film a dull, generic biopic that fails to do justice to its subject. He considers Depp’s performance convincing, but says the film’s vague storytelling and repetitive visual choices undermine it. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/black-mass) - **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (35/100, inferred): Sexton calls it a solid addition to the gangster genre but says it gives viewers nobody to care about. He praises its rendering of the genre’s familiar details, while finding Johnny Depp’s performance repellent and alienating. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/black-mass-film-review-captain-jack-transformed-into-johnny-death-a2927241.html) - **Film Comment**, Michael Sragow (35/100, inferred): Sragow’s description suggests the biopic falters despite its ambitions. The excerpt singles out its attempt to run on faith alone as a weakness. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/deep-focus-black-mass/) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (30/100, inferred): Brody argues that the film lacks psychological insight and a unified aesthetic, while its passive amazement at Bulger’s crimes lets it evade the political context of Boston’s racial conflict. He singles out the omission of the school-busing crisis as especially revealing of the film’s narrow view of whiteness and community. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-blinding-cinematic-whiteness-of-black-mass) - **Vulture**, David Edelstein (30/100, inferred): Edelstein finds the film shallow and dramatically clunky, unable to make Bulger feel knowable. He praises Depp’s refusal to soften Bulger and singles out a menacing scene opposite Julianne Nicholson as the highlight. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/09/movie-review-black-mass-lacks-a-soul.html) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (90/100, inferred): Hammond calls the film one of the year’s best and a sterling addition to the gangster genre. He praises Depp’s layered portrayal of Bulger and the film’s humanizing complexity. [Read](https://deadline.com/2015/09/black-mass-review-johnny-depp-whitey-bulger-movie-1201517949/) - **The Wrap** (75/100, inferred): The review finds the film frequently engrossing, with Johnny Depp delivering his best dramatic performance in years. It singles out Depp’s compelling turn for praise, while noting pacing problems in the final act. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/black-mass-review-johnny-depp-joel-edgerton-whitey-bulger/) - **Den of Geek**, David Crow (3.5/5): Crow finds the film forceful but constricted, with its episodic structure keeping it from fully developing key relationships. He singles out Johnny Depp’s terrifying, bare-knuckled performance as the film’s great strength. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/black-mass-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Emma Dibdin (65/100, inferred): Dibdin finds the film a gripping but emotionally hollow gangster drama, rescued largely by Johnny Depp’s performance. She especially praises Depp’s unsettling, precise portrayal of Bulger, while faulting the film for leaving its relationships underdeveloped. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a669367/black-mass-review-johnny-depp-chills-in-his-best-performance-for-years/) - **Paste**, Andy Crump (6.0/10): Crump finds the film competently made but ultimately unoriginal and unlikely to leave a lasting impression. He praises Johnny Depp’s chilling performance, while criticizing the stereotyped Boston accents and the film’s limited ideas. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/black-mass) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C-): Goldberg finds the film unfocused and lacking a compelling purpose despite its sensational true story. He singles out Connolly’s underdeveloped character arc as a missed opportunity, while criticizing the one-dimensional portrayal of Bulger. [Read](https://collider.com/black-mass-movie-review-johnny-depp/) - **NME** (50/100, inferred): The review finds the film stylish and tense but lacking a convincing sense of purpose. It praises Johnny Depp’s restrained, unsettling performance and the strong supporting cast. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-16347-308647) - **Consequence**, Michael Roffman (40/100, inferred): Roffman finds the film average despite its compelling central performance. He praises Johnny Depp’s vivid, commanding portrayal of Whitey Bulger, while faulting the exposition-heavy screenplay for flattening the story and its relationships. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/09/film-review-black-mass/) - **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film solid but too familiar to add anything new to the gangster genre. She praises Joel Edgerton’s performance and the supporting cast, while noting Benedict Cumberbatch is underused. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/black-mass-review/) - **/Film**, Angie Han (20/100, inferred): Han finds the film a boring, clichéd crime drama that fails to develop its characters or make its violence matter. She singles out Depp’s flashes of repulsive charisma as the bright spot, though she says the makeup undermines his performance. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/540016/black-mass-review/) - **The Skinny**, Michelle Devereaux (★): Devereaux finds the film leaden, superficial and an uninteresting take on institutional corruption. She particularly criticizes its endless exposition, stock mob-movie scenes and Cumberbatch’s Boston accent. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/black-mass) ## Details - **Director:** Scott Cooper - **Director:** Scott Cooper - **Screenplay:** Jez Butterworth, Mark Mallouk - **Cinematography:** Masanobu Takayanagi - **Editor:** David Rosenbloom - **Music:** Junkie XL - **Production design:** Stefania Cella - **Costume design:** Kasia Walicka Maimone - **Producer:** Scott Cooper, Patrick McCormick, Tyler Thompson - **Cast:** Johnny Depp as James 'Whitey' Bulger; Joel Edgerton as John Connolly; Julianne Nicholson as Marianne Connolly; Dakota Johnson as Lindsey Cyr; Kevin Bacon as FBI Agent Charles McGuire; Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger; Peter Sarsgaard as Brian Halloran; Juno Temple as Deborah Hussey - **Runtime:** 2h 03m - **Release (Hong Kong):** 22 October 2015 - **Genres:** Drama, Crime, History - **Budget:** $53 million - **Box office:** $100 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_F-lVhSfx8 ## Where to watch in Hong Kong - Netflix: streaming - Apple TV: rent HK$28.00, hd - Apple TV: buy HK$138.00, hd *Checked 2026-10-02.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Friends of Eddie Coyle* (1973): Boston crime done properly: small men, bad deals, and Robert Mitchum looking tired in bars. - *Donnie Brasco* (1997), Fi1m 84: Depp on the other side of the informant table, and the deal costs him just as much. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/donnie-brasco.md) - *The Departed* (2006), Fi1m 84: Scorsese takes the Bulger story, changes the names and turns it into a thriller with a pulse. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-departed.md) - *Gomorrah* (2008), Fi1m 84: Naples instead of Southie; organised crime as plumbing, with no one stylish in sight. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gomorrah.md) - *Mesrine: Killer Instinct* (2008): Vincent Cassel’s French gangster has the appetite Bulger lacks, and the film moves. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/black-mass