Mickey Cohen's (Sean Penn) choke-hold on Los Angeles is growing increasingly tighter, with the police force, judges, and politicians all backing him up. Seeing no legal method of capturing Cohen and his criminal empire, Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) calls in no-nonsense police sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) to infiltrate and destroy Cohen's businesses. O'Mara quickly rounds up his tight crew, who he dubs the 'gangster squad', while O'Mara's friend and fellow police sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) woos Cohen's girlfriend Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). Using wire-tapping and some simple brutality, the squad start to break down Cohen's money-making schemes, until Cohen's starts to hit back in force, waging war in the city he wants complete control of.While obviously heavily elaborating on 'fact', Gangster Squad's story is undeniably luring. Set amongst possibly the most corrupt and out-of-control era in America's history and against a backdrop Hollywood razzle-dazzle, it's amazing just how dull the film is. I would estimate about 95% of the film is complete bull-shit, which I could live with, but it's the way it goes about it's bull-shit that makes the film such, well, bull-shit. This is a film that tries to capture the 50's noir cool of the era, with sharp suits and cool hats, but there's only so many Gosling poses or look-how-cool-this-car-is moments that I can take. If it spent a little less try trying to be cool, and more time getting to the grit of the story then it may have worked a little better. But this doesn't capture the style of the era like L.A. Confidential (1997) did, it's all forced, hat-tilted-to one side, cigarette-hanging-loosely-out-the-mouth, forced cool.
For such a stellar cast, only Sean Penn manages to tune in a performance. As ridiculous as his prosthetics are and as outlandish as his performance is, he seems to be the only one really trying. Don't expect any depth, Penn's Cohen is a simple thug who will kill you if you fail him, and you would find more complex villains in early James Bond movies. Brolin and Gosling, two of the most interesting actors to emerge in the last ten or so years, barely register, failing to breathe any kind of life into their archetypal roles. But it is Emma Stone that suffers the most, serving no purpose other than to be the helpless damsel-in-distress and to give Gosling a reason to take his shirt off. In fact, you could label every one of the Gangster Squad as a familiar archetype you would think we'd moved away from. Brolin is The No-Nonsense Leader, Gosling is The Handsome One, Harris (Anthony Mackie) is The Black One, Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi) is The Nerdy One, Kennard (Robert Patrick) is The Veteran, and Ramirez (Michael Pena) is The Rookie.
I mean come on, this is 2013, can't we expect a little bit more from our mainstream films? It's just one cliché after another, including a little boy friendly with Wooters who gets killed by one of Cohen's men, convincing Wooters to join the squad. It even features a scene where a character throws his badge into the sea. At the point where Cohen opens fire on the squad and shouts 'here comes Santa Clause!', I gave up all hope. Apart from the cinematography, and Penn's energetic performance, I would have nothing good at all to say about this film. Maybe Fleischer should stick to comedy, as his previous movie Zombieland (2009), I actually really enjoyed. But if you want a more powerful, honest and dramatic depiction of Mickey Cohen, check out the first five minutes of L.A. Confidential instead.
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña, Nick Nolte
Country: USA
Rating: **
Tom Gillespie
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