tame

Rating: 5/10 (15 March 2016)

This biopic of a famous Boston crime lord falls flat for a number of reasons. Depp acts his socks off and the make-up and camera departments deserve credit for imbuing a coldness in those blue blue eyes. Cumberbach also copes ably with a role that is a departure from much of his previous work. But the story fails to engage. The main problem is the FBI office. The complicity of the FBI in the rise of this nefarious individual is what makes this story stand out, but the squabbling between the various characters in that setting lacks gravitas. Kevin Bacon is unusually limited. The story chases Boston authenticity, forsaking gripping drama in the process. There is one scene where Bulger plays mind games with an FBI officer over the dinner table about a 'secret' family recipe. A potentially dramatic scene, if we hadn't witnessed it before, beat for beat, in Goodfellas. Taking a cookie-cutter to that iconic 'You think I'm funny?' scene is symptomatic of the lack of ambition and verve in this film. Not a terrible film, but the lack of risk, or surprise, is disappointing. The filmmakers should have watched 'Snowtown' before starting out.