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Warner Bros. were as shocked as anyone else when AMERICAN SNIPER blew away any and all box-office expectations, so it’s no surprise that they’re using the style of that first nail-biting teaser to sell another upcoming prestige drama.
Like that trailer, this uses an individual moment of suspense as a sort of metronome and tone-setter while barraging you with unrelated images to flesh out the world of the film. Sure, the scene in question is somewhat similar to the “Funny how?” scene in GOODFELLAS, but damn if it doesn’t do its job of keeping you transfixed while the high-profile cast and period elements flash before our eyes.
Johnny Depp gets a lot of flak for wearing extensive prosthetic and hair pieces and using funny accents, but here, it seems to be in the service of something more serious than, say, MORTDECAI or INTO THE WOODS. He’s playing Whitey Bulger, the primary inspiration for THE DEPARTED’s Frank Costello, and I can’t help but feeling there’s a little bit of Jack kicking around in his performance. Which I’m all for; it’s been 7 years since he appeared in the period crime drama PUBLIC ENEMIES, but I don’t think he’s ever gone full big-villain like this before (ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO might be the closest so far).
And man, what a supporting cast! You got Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Adam Scott, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Corey Stoll, among others. It seems like every shot in this trailer features a recognizable actor in it. And they're all getting their late-'70s groove on, which makes it even better.
I wasn’t that excited by this release before, but I’m liking what I’m seeing here. What about you folks?
BLACK MASS tells you how to wash Whitey Bulger off your clothes on September 18th.
