You're definitely right that Johnny Depp and BC don't look like each other or like brothers! I had to suspend my disbelief there.
I have seen a lot of movies about "the mob" or the Mafia/yakuza/gangsters (this list is all right), and the thing I usually end up feeling is that while their outright message is that violence is bad and makes psychopaths of us all, the movies can't help but glorify it at least little bit just by the nature of showing it onscreen. Like they'll say, "These people are so corrupt; look at how violence is bad for communities!" but their title screens are all attractive people/women as props carrying guns provocatively. So..."violence is bad...but looks so cool!" ends up being a subtextual message.
Whereas in Black Mass I didn't end up feeling that. It was about the tenseness and emptiness of their lives and how devoid of humanity Johnny Depp's character is, but while he was fascinating, I never felt we were supposed to think of him as a hero. It was a movie of suspense instead of action. And it showed how the police/FBI can end up doing more harm than good, which is something we could stand to hear more as a country!
Anyway, I guess that's more what I meant by "not a typical gangster movie"!
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You're definitely right that Johnny Depp and BC don't look like each other or like brothers! I had to suspend my disbelief there.
I have seen a lot of movies about "the mob" or the Mafia/yakuza/gangsters (this list is all right), and the thing I usually end up feeling is that while their outright message is that violence is bad and makes psychopaths of us all, the movies can't help but glorify it at least little bit just by the nature of showing it onscreen. Like they'll say, "These people are so corrupt; look at how violence is bad for communities!" but their title screens are all attractive people/women as props carrying guns provocatively. So..."violence is bad...but looks so cool!" ends up being a subtextual message.
Whereas in Black Mass I didn't end up feeling that. It was about the tenseness and emptiness of their lives and how devoid of humanity Johnny Depp's character is, but while he was fascinating, I never felt we were supposed to think of him as a hero. It was a movie of suspense instead of action. And it showed how the police/FBI can end up doing more harm than good, which is something we could stand to hear more as a country!
Anyway, I guess that's more what I meant by "not a typical gangster movie"!