Uneven account of Boston's Public Enemy #1, John "Whitey" Bulger (icy good Depp though)

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 2015)

BLACK MASS (2015) *** Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, Jesse Plemons, Rory Cochrane, David Harbour, Adam Scott, Corey Scott, Julianne Nicholson, W. Earl Brown, Bill Camp, Juno Temple. Uneven account of Boston's Public Enemy #1, John "Whitey" Bulger (icy good Depp uncannily looking like Ray Liotta) and his connection with the feds including childhood bud John Connelly (Edgerton equally good) who is part of a task force after the Mafia in the 1980s relying on the dubious 'help' of Bulger. The screenplay by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth (based on Dick Lehr & Gerard O'Neill's book) trips on itself in the fledgling relationship between its two principals but Scott Cooper's Martin Scorsese-lite direction could have used some more urgency to the proceedings at hand. A fine ensemble - some largely wasted (hello, Scott) - make up for the otherwise better-than-average but could've been better movie.