Director: Ruben Fleischer
Talent: Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Seán Penn, Emma Stone
Release date: 11th January 2013
Set in 1949 Los Angeles, Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad is a richly stylized period piece, a vivid portrayal of post-WW II, urban America. Veterans return home to a city overturned by a corrupt mobocracy. It is gang-leader Mickey Cohen (Seán Penn) who is perched on the highest rung of law enforcement, trickling malfeasance down through the establishment and reaping the benefits. Venerable cop Sergeant John O’ Mara (Josh Brolin) is recruited by his chief (Nick Nolte) to execute an undercover assignment: to infiltrate and dismantle Cohen’s operations, thus restoring peace and justice to L.A.—a familiar, naïve Good Guys versus Bad Guys narrative. Based on a true character, Mickey Cohen is the perfect antagonist: a brutal megalomaniac trying to manifest his skewed vision of the American Dream. It is up to O’ Mara and his team of incorruptible officers—the titular Gangster Squad—to save the day. Adorned with dapper costuming and dashing set design, the film has the feel of the forties. However, the script is generic and trite, its content predictable, and its characters broadly and badly drawn. For all its promise, Gangster Squad is all style and little substance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qilrVR0miPU
Words: Elaine Brennan-O’Dwyer
