James "Whitey" Bulger is one of the most notorious crminals of our time. On June 22nd, 2011 Bulger was arrested after spending 16 years at large and 12 years on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He was charged with two consecutive life terms and five years for his crimes on the account of racketeering charges and 11 murders. Prior to the arrest, Bulger had been in hiding beginning in 1994 when he was tipped off by his former FBI handler.

"Black Mass" tells the story of James "Whitey" Bulger prior to the hiding particularly when he led the Irish American Winter Hill Gang in South Boston while serving as an informant for the FBI. Director Scott Cooper clearly focuses less on the visual effects and more on being an "Actor's director". He takes priority on character development to explain why the gang members ended up taking advantage of the FBI so they could hunt down other gangs. He has a focus on the impact and emotion of personal events. One example of this is with Bulger and his family. The reason why Bulger would do anything including messing with his FBI job to hunt down others was because he wanted to keep his family safe from gangs trying to hurt them. However things take a turn for the worse when he loses his mother and son. They were two of the very few people that Bulger actually cared about. Bulger would show intense anger or maybe even be near mute when he faced these tragedies but then his sadness would build into his ambition to kill others that have apparently offended him. Effects do come into play but they would be alongside character development. Right before someone would be killed the camera would be angled to the point of view of the murderer and the intense music would symbolize their drive to kill. To me it felt as if the audience was starting to go inside the twisted mind of a criminal and learn more about how it would feel if they were about to kill someone.

With that being said, there was not a single weak link with the acting performances. Johnny Depp was incredibly convincing as James "Whitey" Bulger. Not only did he make his character well developed and vulnerable through his struggles but he also successfully portrayed the many tactics of Bulger. He would play coy in front of others, use sarcasm to explain his perspective and even used physicality to get what he wanted. Another notably strong actor was Joel Edgerton as John Connolly, the man who just returned to South Boston and plays a key role in getting the Winter Hill Gang involved with the FBI. He showed the conflict between making the gang a success and being a dedicated husband all at the same time. Even Benedict Cumberbatch who stays away from the crimes as Bulger's political brother Billy gave a very good performance. He was able to be the persuasive leader of the Massachusetts Senate and hold his own despite coming from a troubled family while showing sincere sympathy for this brother.

If I had to have some crticism about this movie it would definitely have to do with the pacing. Director Scott Cooper delves deep into each event but none of them have a focus for a significant amount of time. It bounces from one event to another. I was also a bit disappointed with with the lack of screen time for most of the women. This film really focuses on gang life in a world of men. I wish they could have been more involved within the entire storyline and that we would get more of an idea of a woman balancing her daily schedule along with dealing with the troubles of her husband or family member.

Overall this is a disturbingly good film. Viewers get to take a trip inside the mind of gang members particularly James "Whitey" Bulger and learn more about why they make these horrible decisions. If you're willing enough to handle the violence and emotions then I definitely recommend seeing this movie.