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Released by Warner Bros. Pictures on January 11, 2013 this R rated period-drama set in
1940's Hollywood has already earned back half of its sixty-million dollar budget in only
its first week. Director Ruben Fleicher commendably recreates the Golden-age of southern California
with a sharp and sophisticated filming style very reminiscent of the time period he's trying
to capture. But I couldn't help but feel many of the sets and locations felt like a poor
man's "LA Confidential"... or a live-action adaptation of Rockstar's awesomely fun "LA
Noire" video game. Josh Brolin does a descent job leading an ensemble cast of veteran actors,
and his character in the film leads the titular "Gangster Squad", a group of off-the-book
LA cops who swear to do whatever it takes to take down mobster Mickey Cohen. Academy
Award winner Sean Penn plays the mafia-boss, and his devilish delivery is one of the film's
truly terrific performances, remarking to a henchman, "A cop that's not for sale is
like a dog with rabies -- you just got to put them down". Anthony Mackie, Michael Pena,
Robert Patrick, and Nick Nolte contribute smaller, unmemorable performances, but it
was nice seeing the two older guys in a big-budget film again. The standout performer is definitely
Giovanni Ribisi, who continues a long and immensely successful career playing nuanced
and complicated supporting-parts. In my opinion, he's one of Hollywood's most underrated talents,
we've already reviewed six movies featuring the actor, and he is brilliant in all of them
- and yet, he's perhaps the least famous member of the cast. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling continue
their on-screen chemistry from their previous pairing in "Crazy Stupid Love", and work just
as well together here, even if their actual relationship is reduce to merely a few lines
of generic dialog. Actually, mostly the entire movie is filled with tired and unimpressive
dialog... the inconsistently serious plot plays out with a ho-hum familiarity... nothing
here is particularly exciting or original. Following the tragic events of the Aurora,
Colorado theater shooting in July, an entire scene of this film had to be re-shot, as the
original version had characters firing submachine guns at moviegoers right through that very
screen, here in Grauman's Chinese Theater. While this film contains some curiously unmotivated,
and perhaps over-used slow-motion, a neat sequence has the film pausing on each and
every gun-shot, as the muzzle-flashes fill up the room with quick bursts of violent light.
Conversely, a third-act fist-fight was seemingly shot on video, and the altered frame-rate
of this one sequence distracted from the already tensionless scene. At 113 minutes, this picture
is paced well enough: the period music, costumes, and make-up do enough to immerse you in the
seedy and glitzy world of a mafia-run Los Angeles. Heavily stylized, this movie ultimately
left me with a "been there, done that" feeling, few elements of the plot were fresh, and none
of the story threads were particularly fascinating. Occasional sequences of violence and fast-paced
action will keep you interested, but it's unlikely I'll watch this again any time soon.
"Gangster Squad", "Well-executed, but unimpressively familiar." Those are my thoughts, now lets
see what you had to say in the YouTube comments.
"Gangster Squad" on the rate-o-matic... a FIVE and a SIX. Disappointed by the film's
inconsistent tone and pacing, you faulted it for being forgettable and predictable,
but enjoyed the acting and visual style, ranking the movie an "ALRIGHT". This gangster-story
is heavily flawed, and entirely unoriginal, but a number of exciting, and decently produced
sequences made this worth my time, I thought it was "Good".