Cinema Review - Gangster Squad

Now, when I first heard of yet another film pairing the beautiful Emma Stone and exceptional Ryan Gosling together once more I couldn't hide my delight. Band them together with the likes of Sean Penn, Michael Pena, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi and many more, and Gangster Squad looks like the perfect gangster ensemble film. Unfortunately, where the films pack a punch in terms of cast it suffers in content.

Directed by Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer, Gangster Squad heads back to Los Angeles, 1949, and a time when gangster Mickey Cohen (Penn) ruled the criminal underworld with an iron fist. As police chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) struggles to gain a foothold on the constant buying out of police officers and level of crime, he turns to one man for a solution.

Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is a dedicated police employee who is married to the job and one of few who is willing to stick his neck out to stop the terrifying reign of Cohen. When he is tasked to leave his badge at home and put together a squad to slowly take down the gangster's growing empire, a plan is set in place and all hell breaks loose.

With such an esteemed cast and a seemingly simple true life story to adapt to screen, you can't help think that Gangster Squad is going to be everything you wished it would be. The ingredients are all there - a moody Josh Brolin leading a ragtag group of individuals each with a special something, a secret romance blossoming between Gosling and Stone, and plenty of opportunities for action set pieces. Unfortunately it all results in a massive dose of mediocrity.

Where director Ruben Fleischer kept Zombieland fresh with some extremely well choreographed sequences, his latest offering keeps rather standard and is at times almost lazy. Admittedly the cast are a joy to behold, Penn has fun in the mould of Cohen, Brolin proves once again his leading man status and the likes of Stone and Gosling ignite with sexual tension. Where the letdown lies is in the scenes where we should be on the edge of our seats. The combat is predictable, slow motion sequences not enthralling enough and the majority proving to be predictable.

Gangster Squad is by no means a terrible film. It packs enough ingredients to be classed as a good gangster film, but good doesn't quite make the cut when you have a cast of such high-end individuals. Sean Penn stands out from the crowd in a role he revels in but with others losing out on sufficient development many of the other characters are easily disposable.

Fleischer has attempted to adapt his style to the time period and it never quite hits that spot, leaving Gangster Squad as a fun yet easily forgettable early year release.

Film Rating - 3 F's out of 5