Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film leaves a lot of blank spaces and concentrates only on the most memorable moments of the crime life of Bulger. It think it is mostly due to length. The film has a limited time. A whole miniserie could be dedicated to the more complete story of Bulger and the mafia take of Boston with more details. It will likely be done because there are lots of lessons in it. For what it is, this film gives plenty.

Had a less talented actor taken the lead in 'Black Mess', it wouldn't have been half the film it is. Johnny Depp completely carries this film, elevating what is some very average material and a generic script to something that is at least engaging and occasionally entertaining. His portrayal of notorious gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger is brilliant, and is the sole reason that 'Black Mass' is worth watching.Depp aside, this film doesn't have much going for it. As someone who watches a lot of crime/dramas, there's nothing about the storyline or script of 'Black Mass' that makes it stand out. It's dominated by scenes of blood and violence and often gets carried away with itself, but beyond the high level production and Depp's excellent acting, 'Black Mess' is just a standard gangster film.

I know there's a fair school of through that says Johnny Depp's star has waned over recent years, but I was surprised that I'd never heard of 'Black Mass' until it was on sale on DVD. It sounded pretty good - a true life tale of how a gangster turned Government informer, plus it had a stellar cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon and that creepy guy out of 'Breaking Bad' who looks a bit like Matt Damon. However, when I started watching it, I soon realised why it never really set the Box Office alight.It's dull. That's it. This is going to be a pretty short review. There's really not that much I can say about it. It's just boring. I suppose I've watched a lot of these gritty true-life gangster/snitch films in my time, therefore I couldn't see anything new here. However, I really do think that anyone fresh to the genre would find this a little slow and hard going. It may have a decent cast, but that almost becomes a problem. The film bounces around from actor to actor and from present to past and feels completely disjointed, like each scene doesn't really relate to the one that's gone before. Then, because every scene doesn't feel like it should follow the one before, the whole film comes across like one big series of mini stories where the actors are never allowed to show their considerable talents because none of them are ever allowed the time to do so.Whatever the public mood is towards Johnny Depp right now, he's always been one of my favourite actors and I'm certain he has plenty of good roles ahead of him. Just like I know he loves to immerse himself into whatever part he's playing and is more than happy to do whatever it takes to 'look the part.' As with 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' he's almost unrecognisable as the main character, sporting a balding hair piece and more than a few added wrinkles. However, it takes more than a good set of prosthetics to make a movie and, unfortunately, his passion for his craft doesn't save the film.It's not terrible, but for the cast that's been assembled for this production you'd be expecting something along the lines of 'Goodfellas.' Sadly, the only two words that come to mind here are 'boring' and 'forgettable' (sorry, Johnny).

Exquisitely rendered period piece with stellar acting. The problem lies in its ad-hoc dramatization of the facts. The book upon which this film is based includes many details that are absent from the movie, as is typical of adaptations; yet here, it's a detriment. Consider for one Whitey Bulger grabbing a prepubescent boy from the neck and forcing him to give the reigning mob boss a blowjob... Is Johnny Depp with the cloud-steel blue contacts "dancing" without knowing the whole story? I'd guess not. In fact, i think that the boy- sex-scene wound up on the cutting room floor. In fact, I thonk that many vital scenes were cut to make the film of- appropriate-length and also legallly-acceptabe in terms of violence and sex that's acceptable by the ratings association. In the vein of films like "Goodfellas," this mob movie is subpar and solid. Yet it's content could've been extraordinary if indeed the scriptwriter had looked beyond the the mob cliché to include its inspiration to the fullest.