Black Mass review: Johnny Depp is the reason you should watch this film!

Film: Black Mass
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll
Rating: *** (Three stars)

What's it about:
The absurdity of the fact that Jimmy 'Whitey' Bulger rose through the ranks of Boston's crime scene, with covert assistance from the FBI, is not lost on you. But there's a reason and this movie tells you how the man, supposedly the FBI's informant in Boston, who ratted out the Italian mafia, quickly became the city's crime lord. This, with no assistance from his politician brother William 'Billy' Bulger. The two are as chalk and cheese, with neither interfering in the other's 'business'.
It takes some convincing on the part of FBI agent John Connolly to actually get Whitey to sell out the Mafia, but when he does, Whitey goes about eliminating his competition in plain sight, with the FBI choosing to ignore his excesses. John gets swept up by the power, money and fame, is corrupted by it easily. 
The question really remains: how long does his reign of terror continue?

What's hot:
Johnny Depp, most definitely. He inhabits Bulger almost effortlessly, betraying no Depp-ness whatsoever. And that, these days, is hard to come by. Joel Edgerton, for playing the most ridiculously effective salesman ever. While Depp is frighteningly menacing and unpredictable (he kills in cold blood one moment and helps an old woman cross the street, the other), it's difficult to picture anyone else in Edgerton's role either. And the camera-work. Beautiful stuff!
 
What's not:
It's easy to be overwhelmed by Depp's histrionics and his ability to so fully commit to his character that one would happily gloss over the film's flaws. You're not going to complain about the performances, so it has to be the fact that you feel nothing for anybody in the main cast. Not Connolly, not Whitey or the Mafia. You don't sympathise with or outright hate them. Crime dramas are supposed to work up your emotions and make you take sides. That doesn't happen with this film, leaving you with a 'whatever' vibe. I'm not saying that the film doesn't have its moments, just that it doesn't have enough.

What to do:
Watch this one if you're a Depp fan. The film doesn't really work without him. It's good stuff, but nowhere close to what The Departed (also based in Boston) was.