'Bulger's playing us, making a fool of the Bureau. We're in too deep, and he knows it! God help us all.'

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2016)

'Bulger's playing us, making a fool of the Bureau. We're in too deep, and he knows it! God help us all.'
Director Scott Cooper brings us via screenwriters Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth the true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf. It sounds impossible but the tale is true and the director makes sure every detail of every person involved is summarized at film's end. If Mafia type crime films are your cup of tea BLACK MASS will certainly satisfy. For most, despite a huge case of outstanding actors, the story is so fragmented that it seems an ongoing bloodbath and once again we are privy to the corruption within the law enforcement system – especially in Boston.
The synopsis pulls it together rather well: 'Based on a true story of James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp), an Irish Mob godfather and FBI informant who had a "secret trading" deal with his brother, William "Billy" Bulger (Benedict Cumberland), a state senator and a Boston public figure, and John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), an FBI agent. They planned to take down the Italian mob and mafia in Boston, which went awry and things turned massively violent. When the credence for each other began fading out, drug dealing, murders, and extortion started to rise, and forced the FBI's Boston office to confirm that Whitey Bulger was one of the most notorious criminals in US history and also one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List criminals.'
Take a look at the cast – Peter Sarsgaard, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple, and an array of bit part players each with viable varying accents of Boston areas – and you can see how this violent evening would work. History here – and it still is going on.