Boston, 1975. FBI agent John Connolly convinces Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger to turn informant for a common goal: eliminating the Italian mafia. The movie tells the true story of this collaboration, in which Whitey ends up winning the game by taking over the business left behind by the Italians and escaping justice at the same time, turning into the biggest mobster in Boston and one of the most powerful in the States.

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Scott Cooper’s third movie after Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace confirms his inability to transcend the great figures of American cinema he invokes and films with a certain savoir-faire. Part historical reconstruction, with a classic plot and high-testosterone performances, Strictly Criminal meets the requirements of the gangster genre without bringing anything new to the party. It’s hard to see why this movie is necessary, and Johnny Depp is obviously going for a “tour-de-force” type performance, having shaved his head and wearing ridiculous blue contacts. Depp chews his way through a clichéd plot rife with overwritten scenes of violence. With a huge ensemble cast (Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Nicholson, Juno Temple) that is shamelessly underused, Black Mass is definitely a small movie about a big gangster.