GANGSTER SQUAD – The Review

Set in a Post-WWII world, GANGSTER SQUAD kick’s off in 1949, at a time when gangsters were running riot in Chicago and New York, but failing to gain a foothold in Los Angeles. Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) intended to change that however, running drugs, guns and prostitutes and taking the City of Angels for all it was worth. In an effort to fight back, Police Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) charges Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) with the task of assembling a clandestine squad to undermine and attack Cohen’s operation at every turn. And thanks to the gangster having half of LA in his pocket, Parker gives the team the freedom to act outside the rules and regulations of the law. There are no badges, no warrants and no arrests on the Gangster Squad, only Tommy guns and a casual attitude to one’s own personal safety.

Joining O’Mara on his quest are grizzled sharp-shooter Max (Robert Patrick), downtown flatfoot Coleman (Anthony Mackie, whose character we first see throwing a knife into the hand of a drug dealer mid-transaction), tag-along Navidad (Michael Peña), tactician and surveillance expert Conway (Giovanni Ribisi) and cynical ladies’ man Jerry (Ryan Gosling), whose current lady Grace (Emma Stone) also happens to be Cohen’s girlfriend, however, Grace is a wholly fictional character, only existing to sex-up proceedings and enable screenwriter Will Beall to tie-up loose ends that bares little resemblance to what really happened.

As Cohen, the infamous boxing champ-turned-Mob kingpin, Sean Penn does all he can to give one of those knowingly over-the-top performances, think Pacino in SCARFACE or De Niro in THE UNTOUCHABLES, that turn sociopathic rage into grand opera. The waxy makeup he’s wearing makes him look a bit too much like a villain out of DICK TRACY, but Penn, narrowing his eyes to slits and crumpling his kisser into a puckered obscenity machine, plays Cohen as a boneheaded but ruthlessly articulate power addict. He’s a schnook from the streets whose insane ambition to own everything, including the police force is his way of making himself “respectable.” When Penn is on screen, GANGSTER SQUAD is far from great, but it does crackle with a certain gutter fascination.

Director Ruben Fleischer (whose previous features include the inventive ZOMBIELAND and the less accomplished 30 MINUTES OR LESS) loves his period detail, but he’s not afraid to spill gore on the shiny shoes. Round after round of ammo gets fired, the heroes of course have a much better hit rate than the villains and the unfortunate underlings get burned alive or drilled in the face or torn apart by the era’s huge cars, and there’s even one montage where the squad’s spree of violence against Cohen’s goons and his dens of vice is practically staged like a musical number,

GANGSTER SQUAD was supposed to have come out last year, as well, featuring a climactic shootout in which gangsters fire automatic weapons from behind a movie screen at Hollywood’s historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. After the July shooting at a showing of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES that left twelve people dead in Aurora, Colorado, that scene clearly had to be removed which required extensive re-shoots and a release-date change from September until now, right into the aftermath of another horrible gun massacre. It will be interesting to see how the public responds to GANGSTER SQUAD. Below was the original trailer released with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES before being immediately pulled after the Aurora incident, the scene is shown very briefly at the 1:18 mark.

Still, you shouldn’t expect a kinder, gentler film. GANGSTER SQUAD is brutal, if you don’t mind a little blood spattering your glossy post-war reveries, GANGSTER SQUAD never lets up on its momentum, often injecting surprising humor or character moments into an otherwise by-the-numbers story. And if nothing else, it’s way better than you’d expect any movie released by a major studio in January would ever be. It’s an exciting nod to the old gangster flicks that is highly enjoyable and will keep you entertained throughout.

3.75 Out Of 5 Stars