Review of Gangster Squad (2013) by Kevin R — 29 Jun 2013

Los Angeles is my destiny, mother fucker.

In the late 1940s a crime boss named Mickey Cohen is quickly rising the gangster ranks and may run the entire West Coast before he is done. Chief Parker hires police officer, and war veteran, John Mara to employ a group cops to bring down Mickey using guerilla war tactics. Will Parker's plan work or will Cohen destroy his boys and bring Parker down with them?

"I swear to god.".

"I am god, so swear to me.".

Ruben Fleischer, director of 30 Minutes or Less, Zombieland, The Right Now Show, and the upcoming The List, delivers Gangster Squad. The storyline for this picture is fairly straightforward but the script and characters are dynamic and interesting. I did think the acting was awesome and the cast includes Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, and Micharl Papajohn.

"The whole town's underwater. You're grabbing a bucket when you should be grabbing a bathing suit.".

Gangster Squad was a movie I was definitely excited to see when the previews first aired. I was devastated when this was pushed back due to the Dark Knight shooting. The movie is entertaining and fun to watch unfold but nothing special or much of an addition to the genre (far from on the level of Scorsese or Coppola's work in the genre). Overall, this is worth seeing once but I wouldn't add it to your DVD collection.

"Here comes Santa Clause!".

Grade: C+.