Perhaps Johnny Depp's strongest performance

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2017)

James "Whitey" Bulger ran South Boston's crime scene with an iron fist in the 1970s and 1980s, but for a good part of his reign of terror he harbored quite a secret – he was actually an informant for the FBI. In particular, he was an informant for Agent John Connolly – although the usefulness of Bulger's intel was often in dispute – all the while continuing his violent rampage over the city against anyone who would stand in his way.
The ruthless Bulger is played in Black Mass by Johnny Depp, an actor not really among the first who come to mind when the character of a crime lord is brought up. Depp has long been known for looking the part in each of his disparate roles and avoiding typecasting. But in Black Mass, even though he doesn't look like an Irish mobster – he completely embodies one. It's really his finest work, and that's saying something.
The movie is told in flashback, as a member of Bulger's inner circle recounts the whole sordid deal to another FBI agent, including the involvement of Connolly (Joel Edgerton) as well as Bulger's brother, state senator Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch). The brutality of Bulger's day-to-day existence isn't tempered; men and women are killed or maimed or harassed for seemingly benign reasons. There seemed to be no middle ground for Bulger. He liked you, you lived. He didn't, you didn't. The movie covers his feud against his Italian rivals in Boston, the Angiulo family, as well as his foray into the high-stakes world of betting on jai-alai in Miami. And how did Bulger get away with so much? Mostly through the protection of Connolly, who used Bulger's (scant) information to further his own career. Crooks protecting crooks. The rabbit hole is deep indeed.
But man, is Depp ever great. I stopped thinking of him as Johnny Depp soon after the movie began. It's funny – to look at Bulger in this movie, you probably wouldn't take him for a mob guy. He's wiry, he's balding, he wears glasses. Nothing tough leaps out at you. But the ferocity of Depp's exceptional performance puts that notion to rest. Cumberbatch, as his brother and fellow Boston native, is also very good and with a surprisingly believable accent. Kevin Bacon shows up as an FBI guy; I think this was his third go-around as a Boston-based law-enforcement officer.