Gangster Squad (2013)
The Fellowship of the Crime Ring
Released: 10
January
Director: Ruben
Fleischer
Cast: Josh
Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone
Plot: Los
Angeles, 1949. Mickey Cohen (Penn)’s reach stretches everywhere – even within
the law. Realising that the only way to lock him up is operating outside it, Sgt.
John O’Mara (Brolin) sets up the ‘Gangster Squad’, a team of men willing to
play Cohen at his own game.
RUBEN Fleischer’s last outing, 30 Minutes or Less, was widely ignored having
been overshadowed by its funnier older brother, the highly marketable spin on a
popular and successful genre, Zombieland. Melting violence and humour together
delicately yet enjoyably, It was the closest the US had ever come to
replicating the refreshing thread of comedy famously portrayed by Edgar Wright’s
Shaun of the Dead.
Gangster
Squad almost nails this. It builds
upon the basis of The Untouchables, but never quite rises to the same heights –
no Oscars for best supporting role here. That said, the ensemble here – the Gangster Squad – bounce off one
another nicely.
The main strengths here though, are Brolin and Penn.
The former is the strong headed, brave, equally-as-moral-as-tough Costner-
stand in, while Sean Penn is more stand out than stand in. Boasting far more
character than screen time (sadly), he drives the film as a viciously ambitious
Mickey Cohen, who locks his associates in lift shafts then burns the building
to the ground, chains a man to two separate cars (wild-west style, minus the
horses) and orders them to drive apart, or makes literal use of the phrase ‘you
know the drill’. Never has Cohen been portrayed with such attention to detail
and a fearsome on screen presence.
Elsewhere, the supporting cast carry the drama at a
favourable pace, never slowing, but also never faltering. There is a good story
to be told, and it wraps up without leaving the audience feel short-changed. Fleischer
knows how to pay cast members the attention they are due, especially
considering the sheer size of it here, and saddles each character with a
selling point. That considered though, the running time doesn’t allow for deep
enough character exploration beyond Brolin, Penn and Gosling, but, frankly, most
will be content with this.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are given a chance to
replicate their romantic chemistry seen before – one or two of their moments
feel like Crazy, Stupid, Love’s deleted scenes – though both are good
performances standing firmly on their own merits, albeit their status as tokens
for a more general market. A very trebly Gosling is ideal as smart, ladies man
(though fictional) Jerry Wooters, who goes to show, in a shooting outside a
restaurant, that he is willing to punish a bad guy accordingly:
“You won’t shoot me, you’re a cop!”
To which he replies, “Not any more.”
Other characters are purely a product of their
casting, for example Nick Nolte must have been first call as the Police Chief
determined to prise LA from Cohen’s grasp, or Giovanni Ribisi as the nervy but
good- willed eyes and ears of the operation. They are all of course, simply
good guys willing to do some bad to pull a city through a corrupt epoch.
In terms of directing, narrative and performance,
Gangster Squad is a decent movie. It may not be as consistently rich in
character as The Untouchables or as sophisticated as LA Confidential, but it
certainly throws enough punches and covers enough ground to warrant recognition
as a great gangster flick.
Verdict: Gangster Squad is the ideal weekend movie,
championing brawn over brain whilst being gutsy and unafraid to expose post-
WWII LA with unsubtle honesty. It pulls a Tommy gun trigger and doesn’t let go
until the drum empties.
