Gangster Squad

Serious or Spoof

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Release Date: 2013
Rating: 15
Running Time: 113 mins
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Starring: Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn

'You Can't kill me, you're a cop'...'Not any more'.

In Los Angeles 1949, Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) owns the city. He is feared by everyone after buying out most of the criminal justice system  allowing him to get away with basically whatever he wants. Only a small group of people want to put an end to Cohen's sadistic reign and form the 'Gangster Squad', an undercover group of cops lead by Sargent John O'mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling). It's only a matter of time before Cohen learns of this deceit and begins hunting down it's members. 'Gangster Squad' is an action packed and fast paced 'Tommy Gun' movie based on true events with other stars appearing in it, such as Emma Stone and Giovanni Ribisi, it will keep you entertained and in suspense by brutality and drama of this tense story throughout.

The film on the whole is incredibly bloody and violent which ties in well with the whole 'Gangster' genre of the film. Sean Penn displays a superb performance as Mickey Cohen being so wonderfully evil and severely unlike-able, however there are some rather comedic one liners said by Penn in this film such as 'let it rip' as two cars begin to tear a man in half and 'you know the drill' as a man gets his head drilled in by a couple of gangsters, very disturbing stuff. However the violence in this film shouldn't turn people away from it as it is such a thrilling and exciting film. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone appear together once again after 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' turning out two more great performances from the actors, despite Ryan Gosling's rather unsettling voice he decides to play out for the entire film, again making me question the seriousness of this film. Despite not seeing Josh Brolin in much previously, he delivered a brilliant performance as the protagonist in this film making the audience feel very safe and at ease with him in charge.

It's hard to find that many faults with 'Gangster Squad', despite it not doing as well as critics may have hoped and not all audiences really getting it, I still found it thoroughly enjoyable. I liked how such a serious and upsetting story could still be so uplifting and entertaining and despite such serious acting from Josh Brolin and Sean Penn it didn't feel like the film was trying to be too dark or sinister giving audiences a chance to see 1940's Hollywood  without feeling too old fashioned. A very good film well worth giving a watch.

8/10