"Gangster Squad" Review

"Gangster Squad"

Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone

RATING
7/10

I distinctly remember having a craving for KFC a while back. I've been seeing billboards everywhere advertising it, and it made my mouth water. I had to sink my teeth into it, so I saved up my money, drove down to the local joint and ordered up a Colonel Burger with chips and a strawberry milkshake. There it was, sitting on my seat. I could smell it as it began to fill the car. I got home, popped open the packaging, and what I saw was... well, it wasn't as good as it was in the picture. But I didn't care, because I was hungry nonetheless. So I grabbed it, shoved it into my mouth and bit hard. It was so good. The flavours simply burst, and the chips were just as delightful... but then I began to get more into it, and I realised that it really wasn't as good as I initially thought it would be. Sure, it filled my appetite at the time, but it certainly didn't make me want to go back to KFC in the near future. I finished my meal and felt satisfied and full, but ultimately a bit disappointed. So let's review "Gangster Squad".

 

"Gangster Squad" is set in sometime in the early 50's of Los Angeles, the 'City of Angels', where crime lord Mickey Cohen rules dominantly in the underworld and his rise to the top begins to tug a few strings in the police department. Sgt. John O'Mara, a hard-as-nails cop is given the job to take down Cohen's entire estate and bring him into custody. The sergent decides to assemble some of Los Angeles' best officers of the law to assist him. So basically what we have now is the period gangster edition of "The Avengers".

 

From the get-go, the film is a routine, straight-forward game of cops and robbers. There aren't any intricate twists or plot devices to catch us off-guard. It's a pretty simple premise with simple characters in a simple world with simple crime. You get it, it's a simple movie. And that is a good and bad thing, unfortunately. The film is very fun, and while you're in it, there's many levels of entertainment to be soaked in. However, only when you leave the theatre and really start to think about it, does it slowly begin to fall apart. Firstly, I'll say the performances were fantastic. Everyone in the cast brought their A-game, even from Brolin, as Sgt. John O'Mara, who was the character with the most meat and heart. His plight to rid LA of Cohen intruiged me more than baby-talk Gosling and his secret affair with Cohen's squeeze, played by Emma Stone. Gosling was great in the movie too, and was always a scene stealer by nature. His performance is subtle but confident and slick, very much like the typical double crosser in most classic gangster flicks. Then we have Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, who does a good job, though tends to be quite cartoonish and over-the-top in some scenes. His desire for authority blinds the fact that the guy basically has no plan at all. While the other actors are all well noted, with the likes of Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, and Michael Pena, there was not much backplot to them (okay, maybe a bit on Ribisi's character, well enough to justify his position in the squad, but it felt hollow in parts). They're there for show, and being a part of the squad, but not much else to truly set them apart as individual and strong characters.

 

 

I will give it some well-earned credit: the film has quite a pleasing visual aesthetic to it. It's a much more digital and crisp style with vibrant colour codes and glossy backgrounds. I believe the film was shot with a RED camera, and it really shows. Everything from costume to set just pops out of the screen with lively panache. It gives it a comic-book tone, much like a moving graphic novel, and its very easy on the eyes. Combine the style with its violence gives you something akin to last year's "Drive". It has random outbursts or startling violence that leaves you breathless. However, the action and violence does become overplayed at some point and it begins to feel a bit stale. Nonetheless, it's always pleasant to see bullets flying all over the screen in glorious high-resolution. Like I mentioned earlier, Ribisi's character had a surprisingly emotional drive, and I'll be honest: it made me tear up. I'm a soft guy... Anyway, when it boils down to the characters with the most meat on them, Brolin and Ribisi were exceptionally well-written. At least enough to give them a spark of humanity.

 

However, I also mentioned before that the film falls apart when you start to think about it, and it does crumble under its own weight. For one, Emma Stone is just there. Like an object. I don't understand her purpose in the film, perhaps to create tension between Gosling and Penn, but she could've easily been replaced by a lamp and it would've made just as much sense. Some of the minor characters I felt were also quite underdeveloped. I actually forgot Michael Pena was in the film at one point, and I was looking forward to his performance after the electrifying "End of Watch". Anthony Mackie too. Fleischer and the writer have that to blame, since they don't really know how to juggle around these characters well enough. The writer, Will Beall, is also writing the new "Justice League" movie, so I'm really fearful for that project now. Also, some may find it's simple plot a plus, but without much complexity or compelling twists and turns like most gangster flicks, it fails to deliver the punches it needed to make it a truly memorable film.

 

While I will say "Gangster Squad" is a super-stylish, very violent and beautifully crafted film with excellent performances around the house, and a keen eye for visual substance, it never quite reaches the heights of its gangster counterparts like "The Untouchables" or "The Departed". Hell, not even "Public Enemies". But it is a pretty fun and enjoyable ride while it lasts, but once your brain kicks in, the film can't help but be dissected to reveal its ugly scars beneath. It gets points for being slick and getting quite emotional at one point, though with little backbone or bite, it never transcends its own campy entertainment factor. And that's all it really amounts to: solid fun with a baby-accented Gosling.