Pretentiously disastrous

Rating: 2/10 (11 September 2017)

For some reason I do not remember, I ended up watching this movie in the cinema. As the plot progressed, it became more and more pretentious, something like a failed attempt to copy the work of the great Marty Scorsese. Johnny Depp is an actor with abilities, manages to build a truly sinister character. Joel Edgerton effectively achieves an exasperating character for his idiocy and his pathetic pretense of being a gangster. The story is told in the typical flashback format from the point of view of a former gangster belonging to the Whitey Bulger (Depp) gang. The formula is repeated, we see his rise, his position in the neighborhood, his ally FBI agent John Connolly (Edgerton) who protects him, business with dirty politicians, loose ends, and of course all this converges in the predictable fall of these characters. Nothing new.
Hollywood sometimes gets bored, and it comes up with the idea of ​​ producing films with little innovative content, which repeat themselves as can be seen also in "American Hustle" (2013), in desperate attempts to emulate the masterful narrative of great films such as "Goodfellas" (1990), "Casino" (1995), or "Scarface" (1983).