Decent Film, Great performance

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2015)

I've only ever seen Johnny Depp in two roles where I believed he was brilliant. And this is one of them, the other being Captain Jack Sparrow from the first pirates movie. Being in a lot of Tim Burton flicks and occasionally popping up in other things now and then it seemed like Depp needed to find a new voice and I believe he found it here. To be fair I haven't seen many recent films of his but this one truly stands out from the ones I have seen. This is his best film in long while and I wont be surprised if he is nominated for the academy award for it. He gave atmosphere in every scene he was in and gave a less is more performance which worked really well. There are a couple of scenes in particular where it felt like he truly knew who he was playing. He definitely is the reason to see this film
As for the rest of the film, it is pretty decent but not great. Everyone plays their parts well such as Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger and Joel Edgerton as John Connolly. No one seems Miscast for the film. Apart from the performances I cant really think of much more reason to watch the movie. The biggest problem this movie has is that the story (being of true events) seems to be more a template for a character study of James whitey Bulger (Depp). Everything seems brushed over which doesn't give a movie like this justice, especially since this is a movie based on a true story.
The violence is shown in a very gritty and realistic way, and gives it more of a stylised look rather than the other exploitive representation in a lot of gangster movies. The film was shot really nice and a few of the scenes were really nicely composed, it all looked smooth and I saw no issues. The biggest problem is the story as it isn't very informative and really focuses mainly on the main character. If you want to see a character study of a dangerous criminal, then you may enjoy this. Its no Goodfellas but its not a terrible gangster film.