It's Been Done Before And Much Better In A Fictional Backdrop

Rating: 5/10 (21 December 2015)

A FBI man gets his hands on a notorious , untouchable crime boss in Boston . He makes a deal with the crime boss - if he turns state evidence against his underlings and rivals he'll be granted immunity from prosecution . Better still the crime boss can carry on with his life of crime and very soon it seems the FBI agent is working for the crime boss
Hold on haven't we seen this plot before ? Yes we have a few years ago when Martin Scorsese made THE DEPARTED a film heavily influenced by the real life activities of Whitey Bulger and his posse of violent thugs The Winter Hill Gang . BLACK MASS tells the true story of Bulger and his gang but quite often fiction is better than truth , either that or this story hasn't been told well in a cinematic way . Director Scott Cooper isn't Martin Scorsese and the way the on screen story is drawn up is rather uninvolving
Johnny Depp has won some critical acclaim as Bulger but let's be honest here and say that Johnny Depp has built up a reputation playing quirky characters in films that aren't usually pitched to mainstream audiences . Here he's cast against type in a relatively commercial studio picture . As it stands Depp might pick up an Oscar nomination but the prize will probably go to that other talented pretty boy Leonardo DiCaprio for THE REVENANT