BLACK MASS

Johnny Depp unbuckles the swash and returns to serious acting in this often powerful but ultimately unfulfilled real-life crime drama that aspires to

operatic proportions but settles for heavy metal. The story of James “Whitey” Bulger (Depp), the sociopathic crime boss who ruled South Boston with a murderous hand until he went on the lam in the mid-’90s, hits impressive high notes, but leaves underdone some crucial elements, as it plows through a gallery of brutal murders and other crimes. Bulger’s childhood pal John Connolly (an excellent Joel Edgerton), up from the same Southie neighborhood as Whitey, works another side of the street as an FBI agent who starts with good intentions but gets sucked into a bottomless moral compromise. The movie looks great, and is beautifully acted, shot, and edited. What it lacks is that sense of dimension to make us really care. Rated R. 122 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Jonathan Richards)