not a handsome leading man

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2016)

Scott Cooper has me on the outside looking in. I can't seem to get close to the main character, Whitey Bulger. Upon reflection, the director presents a main character whose look is hard to accept. Most everyone else in the film looks normal, but the Bulger character is almost like... maybe Benjamin Button-maybe not that overstated. But after I slept on it I am convinced that this choice holds the film back. A different choice would have been to let Depp just play the part virtually looking like he does in real life. That's the other extreme anyway. As it stands I have trouble approaching this Bulger, so I remain at a distance, watching but never am I inside, immersed. The film as it is leaves a lot of potential untapped.