After a few years in the Hollywood hinterland of box office flops, Johnny Depp is back.
His performance as a Boston mobster in Black Mass has been hailed by many as Oscar-worthy and a career best.
Depp is light years away from Captain Jack Sparrow's piratanical buffoonery. You won't be messing with this gangster.
Depp is Whitey Bulger, one of the most notorious crime lords ever to have walked the Boston streets, and on the FBI's most-wanted list until his arrest four years ago.
But before he made the cut for that most-wanted list, his main association with the FBI was as an informer.
It's a meaty story, and breakout Hollywood director Scott Cooper does a very nice job in telling it. As usual he attracts an excellent cast.
Opposite Depp and easily holding his own is Aussie Joel Edgerton, who plays FBI agent John Connelly. Their unholy alliance will have an impressive body count as Bulger, quite literally, gets away with murder, and for a very long time.
Rest assured you will get the requisite amount of bloody beatings and mob car drive-bys, and all in pleasing '70s attire.
Black Mass is by no means the quintessential gangster movie, but it is a really good watch. See it alone for Depp, who should look forward to an awards season for a change. But he's by no means the only reason to buy a ticket.
It's an enthralling true story, and Depp's entire support cast, Edgerton in particular, are worthy of a ticket in themselves.
Four stars.
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Black Mass:: Director: Scott Cooper:: Starring: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple, Jesse Plemons:: Rating: R16:: Running Time: 123 mins:: Release Date: In cinemas now
