Skip to content
Black Mass tells the true story of Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp), the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) and James “Whitey” Bulger grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the late 1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI’s Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened between them – a dirty deal to trade secrets and take down Boston’s Italian Mafia in the process – would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments, and, ultimately, to Bulger making the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
The trailer shows Johnny Depp at his finest, making me feel as uncomfortable as I did when Joe Pesci was asking “Am I funny?” in Goodfellas…
Black Mass is directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) from a screenplay by Jez Butterworth and Mark Mallouk, based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, and also stars a great cast including Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, and one of my favourites, Juno Temple.
It’s released in the UK on September 25th and looks fantastic based on this trailer.
Check out the trailer and click on the picture for the full-size image.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.