Memorable and riveting, true life gangster drama.

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2015)

I've seen some strangely negative reviews on here which are completely baffling to me. I found Black Mass absorbing, not least by it's relentless violence, brilliantly filmed. But it's not the gripping action scenes that hold this together, but the all round superb acting. Johnny Depp is menacing and intimidating as James 'Whitey' Bulger who ended up one of the FBI's 10 'most wanted'. This is maybe Depp's best performance to date in my opinion but I want also to mention Joel Egerton in particular, as a corrupt FBI agent. I haven't really noticed him before, although his name has appeared in a couple of movies I've seen, but here he gives possibly an award winning support performance. Have to wait and see. Surprisingly too, British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch is very convincing as an American senator and Depp's younger brother, who ignores his sibling's criminal ways. Dakota Johnson as Depp's wife and Juno Temple for the ladies, both stand out for me in small support parts. Even Kevin Bacon sneaks in as Egerton's FBI boss. Scott Cooper the director has drawn wonderful performances all round. Maybe he's an actor's director because I've just noticed he directed Jeff Bridges to an Oscar win for Crazy Heart and this is only his third director's movie. The other thing I want to mention is that I could hear every word of dialogue and that is a real luxury in today's movie market. In so many films today, I have to resort to the internet to find out what I've just watched as I can't understand half of what the actors are mumbling. Not so with Black Mass, it's completely coherent. This is and actor's film of the highest calibre and yes, I have seen The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Departed that other people keep comparing it unfavourably to, but then it's not really like those pictures.