10 Essential Summer Blockbusters That Aren't Part Of A Franchise

3. Black Mass

Could this be, finally, a return to form for Johnny Depp? Having made his name appearing in a range of interesting roles, the past few years have seen Depp simply €˜doing Johnny Depp€™, which has usually involved weird make-up and/or hats, and acting a bit like Jack Sparrow regardless of whether he€™s been anywhere near the sea. His recent headline films - Mortdecai and Transcendence - have given brief hope that he may be about to comeback, but ultimately flopped both critically and at the box-office. Black Mass should be the film that stops the rot. Depp is playing the notorious, real-life Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and one of the most infamous violent criminals Boston has ever seen who turned FBI informant for 30 years in order to bring down a mafia family. It promises to be an interesting character study, blended with gangster thriller, and while it's territory that Depp has already been down with Public Enemies, this one looks like it'll be a rather more brutal beast. The cast also includes Benedict Cumberbatch as his brother, Kevin Bacon, Sienna Miller and Joel Edgerton. Crazy Heart€™s Scott Cooper is directing, with a 18 September release slated for the US, and a week later in the UK. The first trailer showed a completely transformed Depp looking utterly menacing, and gives hope that this is going to be his best role in a long time.