Weekend Movie Review: Black Mass

September 25, 2014: Warner Brother’s gangster film Black Mass that stars Johnny Depp has ruled the No. 1 spot this week beating last weekend’s top movie 20th Century Fox’s Maze Runner: The Scroch Trials. A lot of this has to do with the timing of the release. Most of the under 25 movie fans  are busy at college or school, while cinemas are full mostly of adults.

Black Mass grossed $8.8 million on the opening day finishing second behind Maze Runner, which earned about $11 million at the box office. The movie earned $23.4 million in its opening weekend finishing second to the Maze Runner that had grossed $30.3 million.

Brief Synopsis of the Movie

Black mass is Hollywood’s latest attempt to portray the aural idiosyncrasies of the Bay State. Lead star Johnny Depp had to go through hours of training and prosthetic makeup to act and appear just like the mob boss Whitey Bulger.

The film portrays the life of a small time gangster James “Whitey” Bulger of the Irish-American Winter Hill Gang during the 1970s. Bulger was the leader of the gangster mob that carried out nearly all organized crime committed within South Boston. His close associates included right-hand man Stephen Flemmi, cold and calculative hitman Johnny Martorano, and  newcomer Kevin Weeks – all of whom are portrayed exceptionally well in the film. Most of the scenes revolvearound Burgers involvement in the organized crime and his rivalry with the northern Angiulo Brothers who were a powerful and rising family group with ties to the mafia.

Rave Review From  Film Critics

Black Mass has gathered generally rave reviews from critics, most of which praised the performance of Johnny Depp. The film has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes where the critical consensus read that the movie was able to spun a gripping yarn out of a true real life story with one with one of Johnny Depp’s most compelling performances in years.

Another film rating site Metacritic has given Black Mass the rating of 68 out of 100 that indicates “generally positive reviews”. Finally, CinemaScore gave the film a grade of “B” after conducting an audience poll – which is certainly not bad for a mob based film.

Johnny Depps portrayal of Whitey Bulger has received critical acclaim with most critics stating that it was his best performance to date, which is a big statement in itself as he has played the lead role in various blockbuster films that had not busted mostly because of his memorable acting.

As of September 22, 2015, Black Mass had earned worldwide revenue of $28.1 million.  It grossed  $27.5 million in North America, while $655,000 of total revenue was earned from other territories.