Johnny Depp sizzles and director Scott Cooper adequately relays the story of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, but Black Mass falls short of greatness--and of capturing the confusing, conflicting muddiness of the true story.

In other words, it's just okay.

I watched the dramatized Black Mass and a week later the 2014 documentary Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, which didn't do a lot to change my perception of the former other than to note that Black Mass only scrapes the surface of what appears to be a more systematic cover-up by the FBI and Justice Department. Black Mass appears to heighten the gravitas of its central character--Johnny Depp takes full advantage--while diluting everything else.

Depp's incarnation of Bulger doesn't entirely match with reality--Depp's version is more movie monster than criminal, and even his appearance seems more insidious than what photos of the real man suggest--but that doesn't make him any less fun to watch. Depp chews scenery like he hasn't eaten in years--and let's face it, Depp hasn't had quality material to work with in quite some time--as he delivers one of the finer, and certainly one of the creepiest, performances of the year.

Joel Edgerton isn't nearly as strong as FBI agent John Connolly, though the fault lies more with the way the screenplay depicts the corrupt character than with Edgerton himself. Maybe Connolly was as much of a whiny idiot in real life as he is depicted here, but the character, who gets more screen time than Bulger himself, grates after a while. Between Edgerton and the filmmakers, they do little to reveal the man's thought processes.

Connolly's eventual incarceration speaks to another issue with Black Mass: the facts, and the fine details that matter, are often glossed over to the point that Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace) mutes some of the more compelling and controversial aspects of the case. While the documentary explains things a bit more (understandably), Black Mass doesn't always connect the dots to the degree Cooper needed to.

More importantly, Black Mass just isn't that entertaining. While never boring, it comes close in a few parts. Black Mass is no gangster epic no matter how much it wants to be, and its shortcomings, sadly, may be enough to keep Depp out of the Oscar race. Black Mass will make for a good rental, but nothing more.

Review by Erik Samdahl.