Johnny Depp is great as James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, a man who grew up in “Southie”, the Southern part of Boston. His brother made it to the office of senator, an old friend is going well in the FBI. Whitey walks the criminal path and becomes the main man in “Southie”.
When his FBI buddy starts to climb the ladder and picks up the plan to use Whitey to catch the Italians in the North of the city, Bulger sees an opportunity to use to his own benefit. Soon his power grows outside his own part of town, making life difficult for both his FBI friend and his senator brother.
“Black Mass” is an American maffia film playing in the 1970’ies and seems to be based on true events. It is a fairly typical maffia film with violence and black humour, but it is done very well with good acting and an interesting story. Depp managed to set a character that is easy to identify with, but he also manages to raise aversion, probably showing what James Bulger was really like.
