Real life can be more colourful than the wildest imagination of Hollywood screenwriters, and one of such examples could be found in biography of James "Whitey" Bulger, Boston Irish mobster who inspired numerous crime films and TV shows. The Black Mass, 2015 film directed by Scott Cooper, is Bulger’s "regular" biopic that chronicles his life and career. Plot begins in 1975 and shows how Bulger (played by almost unrecognisable Johnny Depp) starts as small-time gangster but quickly builds an empire due to pact with childhood friend, FBI agent John Connolly (played by Joel Edgerton) who uses him as an informer against Italian Mafia while ignoring Bulger’s crimes, including vicious murders. While Depp delivers impressive performance, the script fails to properly compress decades of Bulger’s life and criminal career into feature film.
RATING: 4/10
