Review of Gangster Squad (2013) by Stephen C — 28 Oct 2013

Gangster squad is an ok time filler about 40s LA Crime but compared to classics such as Chinatown and LA Confidential its very thin beer.

The problem is the plotting is all over the place and several actors being left with underwritten parts which give them nothing to work with.

The basic plot is failry sound as Josh Brolins tough cop organises a team to take take the equally tough Mickey Cohen played with suitably nasty relish by Sean Penn.

Penn steals the film from Brolin and Ryan Gosling in a part which feels tacked on and Jerry Wooters a cop with an eye for the ladies which could cause his downfall.

Director Ruben Fleischer gets the period detail right and delivers some good action set pieces but his script lets him down at sevral key junctures and the film suffers badly as a a result.

So on the whole its not a bad film but in the bigger picture of LA crime Noir this film is a long long way from being a classic.