Black Mass (2015)

At long last a film where Johny Depp isn't playing a fucking geeky geek!

As the notorious crime boss James 'Whitey' Bulger, a menacing make-up laden Depp manages quite brilliantly to lay low and still stand out at the right places as pure evil personified.

Bulger is a mob boss who will ask you a seemingly harmless question at random and whether you end up dead in a dumpster the following night or not will depend on how serious you sound to him when you answer.

While it would be a long shot to say that this is his best role ever, I could say that this might be his best role in the last half decade at least.

And he is supported by an excellent side cast, including Joel Edgerton (who the film belongs to, in my opinion), Benedict Cumberbatch (pulls off the Boston accent despite being British and that definitely earned some brownie points in my books), Julian Nicholson (is terrific in one scene where Bulger tries to freak her out), Kevin Bacon (bit role) and the promising Jesse Plemons (bit role again).

But despite the top notch acting, I would still say the movie is underwhelming on the whole. At best a good film. Not mind-blowing.

A definite one time viewing though.

Watch it for what has now officially been termed as Depp's return to serious acting and for Edgerton's performance as FBI agent John Connelly who was able to convince his agency to protect Bulger as an informant for nearly two decades in which Bulger managed to commit several counts of murder and racketeering without anybody pointing a finger at him.

Catch the trailer here: