“Gangster Squad” is fun, entertaining, and nothing like the gangster movie you might have been expecting. The movie revolves around mobster Mickey Cohen (who, after recently visiting Alcatraz, I learned he was an inmate there) and his hold on the city of Los Angeles. Mix in a pretty face and love interest in Emma Stone and put together a good-looking cop “squad” to stop him and you have a good versus evil plot. It’s just not all the way developed.
Mickey Cohen doesn’t seem all that scary. He offs fellow thugs or employees that carry out things according to plan, but as far as terrorizing the city, I didn’t feel that. There isn’t a lack of explosions or gunfire; it begins and ends in violence. But it wasn’t too cringeworthy just because of the slow motion take most of the more violent moments had. Actually, one of the more disturbing scenes came at the end when it was fists against fists.
“Gangster Squad” was originally slated to release in September of last year, but was postponed and rumored to have had scenes changed in light of the Colorado Dark Knight shooter. If you remember from earlier trailers, the squad bursts through the curtains of a movie theatre guns firing. Although disturbing for what was/is happening in current news, I thought it would be an effective and visually appealing scene. One of the best thing about gangsters: their outfits.
Josh Brolin leads the team including one of my Hollywood favorites, Ryan Gosling, who plan to take down Cohen (Sean Penn). Gosling is smooth. He’s sharp. And he sure smokes a lot of cigarettes in the movie. The head police chief is played by Nick Nolte who is almost unrecognizable, definitely hard to understand and at times kind of looks like a cartoon (an extra from “Dick Tracy,” perhaps).
And on a more personal note, another highlight of the movie is Christopher Tisa. You might not have seen his name in the credits, but he does appear in the trailer (:28) as well as the movie as the valet opening the door for Mickey Cohen and Grace (Stone) as they stepped out of the car. He is my boyfriend’s brother and you should expect to see him more in the future.
The cast is fantastic, the story missing a lot of depth, but as far as entertainment, the movie did its job.
Final Rating: Liked it
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