You know how there’s crime? Especially in Boston? And how the cops and gangsters all grew up together? Sure. You’ve seen the Martin Scorsese movies — “The Departed” for Boston specifically, but “Goodfellas” and “Casino” for the general vibe of violent, fact-based mob stories about sociopaths who say the F-word a lot. “Black Mass,” directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart,” “Out of the Furnace”), is the Whitey Bulger story, with Johnny Depp as Boston’s notorious ’70s and ’80s crime boss. Depp is intense, and worthier of being taken seriously as an actor than he has been in quite some time. But it’s actually John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), the FBI agent who protects Bulger by taking him in as an “informant,” who’s the protagonist. The film never really gets inside either man’s head.
C+ (2 hrs., 22 min.; )
