Review of Gangster Squad (2013) by Jesse O — 06 Jul 2013

You wouldn't think that movie with this setting, with this cast, and action-heavy approach would be boring. But, wouldn't you know it?, this film is really boring with such a poorly written story where, it feels, like there is no point to the madness.

What does it build to? There's no sense that the town is in grave danger of being destroyed if Mickey Cohen keeps the tight grip that he has on the city. And it just consists of the Gangster Squad, as they name themselves, disrupting all of Mickey's illegal activities, activities that Micky himself does not attend, and Cohen's reactions to them until he finally figures out that they're cops, which is where the movie really starts.

Problem is, this is over an hour into the movie so instead of the film sort of focusing on Mickey hunting down the squad one by one, the film rushes through this. And that makes the first hour, with O'Mara recruiting his guys and them disrupting Mickey's activities a gigantic chore to watch.

You get the feeling that nothing important is happening. The cast is solid and they do as a good job with what they have as they can, but their characters are one-dimensional and cliched. Mickey Cohen is every 30s-40s movie mobster you've ever seen.

Sean Penn does a great job here but his character is, ultimately, very forgettable in the grand scheme of things. And every other character is really ripped from the noir/mob films of the 30s and 40s.

There's also a lot of action, a surprising amount considering this type of movie. It feels a little out of place since the climactic shootout feels like right out of a John Woo movie and it doesn't seem to fit given the time the film is supposed to be set in.

Another complaint is that the picture for the DVD transfer is way too dark, sometimes you cannot even see what is happening. This is especially jarring during the action sequences where you can't even see who's doing what to whom.

I also found the movie to be poorly edited, they jump from scene to scene. Because of that, the individual scenes themselves don't have time to breathe and that's probably why the film is as forgettable as it is.

There's just not enough time devoted to letting the scenes breathe and develop into something. I'd be hard pressed to find a specific scene I remembered, they just all blend together and it's all a mess really.

I wouldn't say the film was bad as there were parts of it I enjoyed. But I do think that the film is a gigantic missed opportunity considering who was involved as the script is so poorly written that there was no way this cast was going to end up saving it.

Can't say I recommend this film, if you really want to watch it, I can't stop you. But it is a massive disappointment.