This is a review where I have to part ways with most critics as they praised Johnny Depp’s performance and the movie’s clear-headed handling of Whitey Bulger’s case.
Well, the former isn’t the way I see it and the latter isn’t accurate since the much more informative documentary “Whitey: The People Vs. James J. Bulger” lays out a different version of events than the movie presents. The movie seems to just blindly follow the version laid out by the FBI–with the help of their criminal witnesses who received severely reduced sentences to tell their version of events–that paints Joel Edgerton’s beleagured FBI agent as Whitey’s old “Southie” pal and protector.
What Works: What a great year for Edgerton, an actor I’d never thought much about until now. First, he was creepily nuanced in “The Gift” and now he’s just as good as an extroverted, morally compromised FBI agent here. His performance is the best thing in the movie. It’s also good to see underrated character actors like Jesse Plemons and Earl Brown get solid film work.
What Doesn’t: Johnny Depp is doing a decent transformation job into a generic Irish mobster, but that mobster bares no real resemblance to Whitey Bulger. Depp–wearing ridiculous blue contact lenses–doesn’t look a thing like Bulger, but he also seems more content to act like Joe Pesci in “Goodfellas” than a close approximation of every description ever given of Bulger. It’s clear Depp thinks this is his way to shed the slightly…fanciful image he’s picked up after playing so many fops (Mordecai, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Mad Hatter, Tonto, Dark Shadows, The Tourist, etc.) so he doubles-down on a hardcore demeanor we haven’t seen out of him lately. Nothing about it feels truly authentic to who Bulger actually was/is.
Plus, the version of events the movie goes with—that Corey Stoll’s a-hole prosecutor is a crusading hero of justice instead of the clean-up man doing damage control by hanging the bureau’s complicity on one lone agent—is based on largely discredited testimony from Bulger’s former associates who got lighter sentences for telling this version. [The end credits reveals the ludicrous fact that the FBI agent “complicit” with Bulger received 40 years in prison while Bulger’s top hitman who killed at least 20 people received less than 12.]
What I Would Have Done Differently: It’s probably not easy to find actors that could portray Bulger’s Bostonian ways—oh wait, a quarter of the biggest movie stars out there right now are from Boston so a call to Mark Walhberg, Casey Affleck, Chris Evans, Neil McDonough (who’d be better for “Whitey?”), Dennis Leary (not kidding), Edward Norton, or especially Matt Damon would have worked just fine.