Gangster Squad

Well this review will be relatively short. 

In part because I have other things that need to be done and the other part being that there really isn't much to say about Gangster Squad.

It's a tale inspired by a true story of Mickey Cohen (played by Sean Penn) who was the gangster that tried to take over LA in the late 40's, much like what happened in Chicago around that time. He owns cops, judges, sheriffs, etc. and all in all is a pretty bad dude. The cops can't do anything about it and no one will testify in open court against him, so the police chief assigns Sgt. O`Mara (Josh Brolin) to form a squad of trustworthy cops to take down Cohen once and for all.

Sounds pretty generic right? Well, it is. There was really nothing that stood out story-wise to me throughout the entire run of the movie and everything was highly predictable. I guess once you see as many movies as I do, it becomes kind of a sixth sense to sometimes guess these things, but at the same time Gangster Squad didn't really try all that hard to keep me on my toes. It tells a story that is always driving forward and never boring, but at the same time I was never emotionally invested in it. I could care less when any of the characters would die and that is never a good sign.

Quite the exceptional cast for quite the slightly-above-average film

Crazy Stupid Love II? Nope, not really

The main thing I have heard about Gangster Squad is that it is all style over substance and I have to admit that I totally agree with that statement. But I view it as a bit of a positive because Gangster Squad does have a really "cool" distinct style where there is a soft glow on everything on the screen and the recreation of the era is done immensely well. With that being said, the movie tries to get us to care about the characters and it often fails miserably. I really don't care about their wives, or their children and I know how bad that sounds, but it's not my fault the movie didnt make me feel it. Probably the only characters I really cared about were Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's relationship and that was probably just my mental leftovers from Crazy Stupid Love. 

But really my biggest complaint with Gangster Squad is that it is just so damn over dramatic. The script is written with the intention of trying to make nearly every line memorable, and at times it is just painfully obvious that what the character is saying is just clearly not what a character would say at the moment. In addition, many character motions are acted way out and just come across as cheesy and I'm not sure if the filmmakers were trying to go for an old-school noir film feel here, and if they are it just didnt appear to go well. But even more odd was the fact that we have this super over dramatic movie that at times I could have sworn I was watching a comic book movie. Super violent one minute, cracking a joke the next minute...it just cant decide if it wants to be serious or playful and gets stuck awkwardly in the middle.

I couldn't decide whether to take Sean Penn seriously
or laugh at his accent and overacting

From all of this complaining it seems like I hate Gangster Squad. The truth is I really dont, I was just shocked by how forgettable it was and how unaffected I was by what was happening on screen. My best description of it is that it is basically a good Michael Bay gangster movie. If you go in expecting action without much depth and just turn your brain off (which there are always fun times to do this at the movies) then it is a serviceable film. But if you go in expecting a deep plot with significant and relevant character development then you will be left wanting like I was. 

But hey its got Ryan Gosling in it so we know the ladies will go see it. 

Pros:

• Is a really fast moving film. I was never really bored
• The characters are actually all pretty distinct personality wise and I enjoyed that. Kudos to the impressive cast of this movie for keeping it above water. Gosling and Stone in particular are great here
• Surprisingly good action scenes and some shocking gore. The super slow mo gun fight at the end was cheesy as all hell but so damn cool
• Great job of recreating the era and I actually enjoyed the "glow" that appeared on the screen
• I have to give credit to the director of the film for pulling it after the Aurora shootings and re-shooting it. In a recent interview, Gosling claimed that the scene that was pulled (which featured a bunch of gangsters firing into a crowd at a movie theater) was the best of the entire movie and by far the most poignant. For a director to make the call to pull it and re-shoot is a huge decision and I commend him for showing class in the situation. For what it's worth to him, I'll be giving the film an extra half-point for this act alone

Cons:

• The script tries way too hard to make every line "iconic" and the attempts to make us care about the characters fall flat for the most part
• Indecisiveness is never a good thing and this film has a hard time deciding between "fun" gangster movie or "violent/brutal" gangster movie. It lands uncomfortably somewhere in between
• Nick Nolte is a great actor, but I cannot STAND his voice. It sounds like he is always on the verge of death
• Sean Penn completely overacts as the villain Mickey Cohen. Some reviewers have said that he is the highlight of the film but I say he is one of the biggest detriments to it. Fun to watch? Absolutely. But between his accent and his comic-book-like tendencies I couldn't take him seriously and I'm pretty sure the movie wanted me to
• Despite the fact that it was a fast run time, there was plenty of room for trimming the movie down.

Rath's Review Score: 6.5/10