Cast impresses, film bores

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2015)

Mobster James "Whitey" Bulger" is pressed into service by childhood friend and FBI man John Connolly to be an FBI-sponsored informant in order to shut down the Boston mafia. Having done so, Bulger then uses his immunity to build his own criminal empire up.
This true crime drama features impressive performances from Johnny Depp as Bulger, Joel Edgerton as Connolly, Benedict Cumberbatch as Bulger's senator brother Mickey and, in fact, pretty much everyone in a fairly starry cast. It is grim, gritty, and very violent and, yet, not without some moments of genuine emotion. Depp's Bulger is a monster, yet there are times when we feel real sympathy for him.
Unfortunately, Black Mass (why is it called Black Mass? This is never made clear during the film) wants to be Goodfellas, but it isn't. Despite the great performances, it suffers from an air of inconsequential rambling – there is little sense of urgency and, quite frankly, I got bored. Had it been 45 minutes shorter its events would have held my attention a lot better (there were a lot of shots of Rory Cochrane looking moody and troubled, all of which could have been trimmed to half their length, for instance).
There seems to be a consensus that it is good to see Depp doing decent dramatic work after so long hiding behind funny teeth, hair and costumes, and I can understand this. It's just a shame it's not in a better film.