Gangster Squad (2013)

Genres

Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director

Ruben Fleischer

Country

USA

Cast

Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Pena, Robert Patrick, Mireille Enos, Holt McCallany, Josh Pence, Frank Grillo, James Hérbert, Haley Strode, Sullivan Stapleton

Storyline

1949 Los Angeles. Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) assembled an unofficial and off-the-books squad to take down former boxer and now mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).

Opinion

I'll never get tired of saying how much I love Emma Stone and how good her chemistry with Gosling is. Those are the two reasons I've been meaning to watch this film forever. The reason why I never watched is "Gangster Squad" being a gangster movie. Duh. Anyway, Stone and Gosling aside, the rest of the cast looked interesting as well, so I finally decided to watch it. But it's not like I've been missing a lot, this film is just another gangster movie. The kind you've seen already a million times.

Although based on the true story of Mickey Cohen - I didn't know that, but it's not important - this film's story is as clichéed as it could possibly be. As we follow the sergeant trying to take down the mobster, we "witness" all the clichés of the genre, from the dirty superior to the boss's good-looking girlfriend to the protegée.

What's even worse is that the story is boring, lacks excitement and the stereotypical, wooden and one-dimensional characters, of course, aren't able to bring the film to life. Not even the action scenes are able to make the film more exciting because they are clichéed, just like the rest of the film.

Considering that all, I was very surprised with the cast that in spite of a poor script managed to do a good job. Josh Brolin does a good job as Sgt. John O'Mara and really fits the role of the tough cop; Ryan Gosling is charming as always and he manages to give a good performance as well; Sean Penn is a bit over the top as mobster Mickey Cohen, but the role demanded some overacting - and it's quite fun to watch him with all that makeup; Emma Stone does fine and her chemistry with Gosling is great as always.