Review: 'Gangster Squad'

Warner Bros. Pictures

As a law enforcement movie, Gangster Squad, on the surface, has it all. It has the group of men that want to make a difference. It has the ruthless mob leader. Most of importantly, at the base of its plot is good versus evil. On the surface this all works fine. You have your sentimental underdog story with characters to root for and against. Though, once Gangster Squad is looked at underneath its surface, weak characters and an abundance of overly sentimental moments are found which ultimately add up to a film that offers nothing more than a nice look.

In 1949 Los Angeles, former boxer Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has become one the biggest names in organized crime. Cohen has gained power over not just Los Angeles but the entire state of California due to successfully bribing judges, politicians and policeman. California is not enough for Cohen though as he has his sights set for control of organized crime in both Chicago and New York.  Not on Cohen’s side is the head of the L.A. Police Department, Bill Parker (Nick Nolte), who recruits Sargent John ‘Sarg’ O’Mara (Josh Brolin) to put together a team to take down Cohen. With the help of his wife Connie (Mireille Enos), O’Mara selects five men who bring something special to the squad: Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) and detectives Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena) and Max Kennard (Robert Patrick).  

Gangster Squads lack of depth can be seen fully in its characters and relationships. Mickey Cohen is the character that suffers the most from being one note. As the film’s protagonist, Cohen as a ruthless character is expected. The problem is the way that this is handled. Nearly every time Cohen is on screen, he is either getting extremely angry or having someone killed and nothing more than this. This is fine at first but when this starts to be a regular occurrence, it becomes evident that there is nothing behind this character. The film opens with explaining how Cohen was once a champion boxer and then is really not explored again in a way that gives depth to the character or connects it to his criminal ways. Cohen may appear ruthless or the worst that mankind to has to offer but with no interesting back story or character traits he comes off as over the top.

Unfortunately, placing two weak characters into a relationship does not make them more compelling as this is the case with Gosling’s character, Jerry Wooters and Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). Grace, Cohen’s girlfriend, catches the eye of jerry and from this point on the film focus on this relationship becomes the constant worry of Cohen finding out. If you are looking for the same type of chemistry between Gosling and Stone that was displayed in Crazy, Stupid, Love, you will be likely be disappointed as the relationship they have in Gangster Squad is a far cry from any past involvement of theirs. This relationship involves very little emotion and does so little by saying so much which makes it difficult to believe or care about. It attempts to convince the audience that it is more important to the story than it actually is.

The films second half takes sentimental moments and runs them into the ground as every other seen is some kind of heartfelt moment or speech. Every character from the squad is given some kind emotional moment which is all crammed into the film’s final fifty minutes or so which takes over the story.  There is nothing wrong with emotional moments or scenes but they should be used in a way that helps to tell the story and move the film along. The way they are used in Gangster Squad is to hammer down the point of how bad Mickey Cohen is and how loyal and brave members of the gangster squad are which really adds nothing to the story.     

At face value, Gangster Squad is an entertaining film.  A lot of this has to do with the ‘flashy’ touches added such as the 1940’s setting and creative shoot ‘em up scenes. This appears to be something that director Ruben Fleischer has a hold on as his first feature length film, Zombieland, was also ascetically pleasing. Very little can be found though when one begins to look past all the glamour.  If Fleischer were to give more attention to the characters and stories featured in his films than he would quickly become a director that would appeal to a much broader audience.  

Grade: C-