Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, power-mad mob boss, Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), has the whole of LA at his mercy, reaping the ill-gotten gains from drugs, guns, and prostitutes. With his sights set on overseeing every wire bet placed west of Chicago, Cohen’s monopoly on the whole seedy shebang looks to be a sure thing, until hardboiled honest cop, Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), decides to make a stand.
Having been given the unofficial order to take Cohen down, O’Mara gathers a ragtag bunch of crime fighters to hit Cohen where it hurts. With the help of his right hand man, Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), O’Mara sets out to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Within the first 10 minutes or so of Gangster Squad, a guy is ripped in half, a hand is amputated by an elevator, three goons are burnt to death and all manner of bones are broken in flinching, visceral fashion. This is the kind of film Gangster Squad is: a no-nonsense, punch first ask questions later tale of good guys versus bad, where the good guys aren’t always so good.
Like a dumbed down take on The Untouchables, Gangster Squad keeps things simple and wastes no time getting to the action as it follows Brolin’s hard ass cop recruiting your customary crew of ambiguous do-gooders (the lady’s man, the sharp shooter, the brains and the token black guy) before wreaking havoc on Penn’s ex-boxer mob boss.
It’s a knucklehead of a movie, placing brawl before brains while sticking to a script that boasts no surprises and dialogue that’s laughable at times, which isn’t helped by a completely ridiculous Penn, who hams it up to snort-inducing effect as Cohen. Gosling (doing his silent smug thing fast becoming a bore) mumbles his way into the pants of Emma Stone’s likeable femme fatale, and the icing on the cake sees Nick Nolte turning up and doing a peculiar stint as law-abiding head honcho, Chief Parker, who uncomprehendingly rasps his way through dialogue in desperate in need of a Strepsil.
While Fleischer’s movie isn’t as distinctive or as memorable as other latter day forays into gangster noir (lacking the smarts and wit of say, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the visual pizzazz of Sin City), it is a lot of fun, and if Warner happens to be on the look out for a gruffer, older Bruce Wayne to carry the Dark Knight franchise forward, Gangster Squad surely proves that Brolin’s the man for the job.
Overall Verdict: A brawl-over-brains knucklehead of a gangster movie.
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths