Gangster Squad
Set in
Los Angeles in 1949, Gangster Squad is the true story of the
demise of the head of Los Angeles’ organised crime, Mickey Cohen (Sean
Penn). Cohen is a dangerous man and has bought out several police and
court members. The LAPD decides they are going to go after Cohen and
bring him and all his criminal operations down. Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh
Brolin) is head of operations and takes into this quest a number of
chosen policemen with particular talents useful to the overall plan.
O’Mara’s close friend, Jerry Wooters(Ryan Gosling) refuses to be part of
operations at first, but when he falls for Cohen’s etiquette
coach/girlfriend and see’s what he is capable of, Grace(Emma Stone), he
joins up. It is no easy job bringing down Cohen and his gang and what
ensues is war.
Gangster Squad is not a bad film, that is for sure. It is not a
spectacular blockbuster that will blow you away, but is still not a bad
film. It feels as if the film really doesn’t kick into gear until about
the 80th minute. All of a sudden you start to really
appreciate the characters, feel a bit more emotion and there are finally
some spectacular gun fights with the accompaniment of amazing
cinematography. It is a shame that the whole movie wasn’t more like the
last 30 minutes. It’s as though the movie becomes what it should have
been all along. In order to be a great film, it needs to be all it can
be for the entirety of the film.
The
time period of 1949 is very well recreated. You can understand why
everyone wanted to be part of the Los Angeles/ Hollywood scene at this
point in time because it was just so classically glamorous and this is
portrayed perfectly on screen. The costume design for each of the
characters is very good. What director Ruben Fleischer has done with
Gangster Squad is very reminiscent of the early Hollywood gangster
films and this works for the film. It is actually quite fun to be drawn
into this world of yesteryear where everything seems so glamorous, even
the gangsters seem so slick.
Sean
Penn’s performance as Mickey Cohen is wonderful. He gives all he can and
is very convincing as the mob boss. He has a likability at times, but
you still remember that this is a very dangerous man and Penn portrays
this well. Josh Brolin is also very good as John O’Mara, but again, his
performance becomes brilliant only towards the end of the film. Ryan
Gosling and Emma Stone both do well, but once again, they are at their
best towards the end of the film.
The
special features include:-
-Commentary with Director Ruben Fleischer
-The
Gangland Files
-The
Set Up
-Rogue’s Gallery: Mickey Cohen
-Tough
Guys With Style
-Deleted Scenes
The
Set Up covers everything in pre-production and production that you will
ever need to know. There are interviews with all the cast and crew, as
well as interviews with family members of the original Gangster Squad
who went in pursuit of Mickey Cohen. There is also the amazing
construction of such sets as that for the nightclub, Slapsy Maxie’s. The
documentary, “Rogue’s Gallery: Mickey Cohen”, is an interesting watch as
it not only goes through Cohen’s life in detail, but it presents him in
a different light as to how you see him in the movie. It presents him as
a good guy which everyone likes and almost makes you believe that he
couldn’t harm a fly. Yet, after seeing the film and putting that
together with the fact that he was a mob boss, we know that he could
harm a lot more than a fly.
