Review: Gangster Squad | People's Critic: Film Reviews - seattlepi ...

Gangster Squad is a snapshot of Los Angeles in 1949- the city, police, and elected officials,? are being run by an ex boxing champ turned mobster named Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). Hardnosed police sergeant John O?Mara (Josh Brolin) is asked to put together a squad of police officers to go to war with Mickey Cohen and take back the streets of LA.

What sounds like an action packed movie ? a David vs. Goliath tale with Tommy guns and suits ? turns out to be a dense story with horrible accents, overacting, and bad one-liners.

Let?s start with the good?

Gangster Squad is all action, all the time. Most of the film?s action centers around the conflict between the ?gangster squad? and Cohen?s nameless henchmen as their unlimited ammo shootouts spill into the streets of Los Angeles. Director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less) made sure that if Gangster Squad was one thing, boring was not going to be it.

The film will entertain action fans with car the chases scenes, explosions, fist fights, people getting hit the butts of guns, fires, and multiple shootouts.

The Bad?.

What some would refer to as ?overacting?, Sean Penn would refer to as ?playing Mickey Cohen.?Penn plays power hungry mobster like a comedian doing impersonations of a mafia boss ? from the bad accent, to the big gestures and constant yelling. His outbursts are unintentionally funny when his eyes squint and lips poke out like a bad version of DeNiro?s James Conway in Casino. Penn?s overacting bonanza reached its apex during the film?s climatic scene when he screams out ?HERE COME?S SANTY CLAUSE.?

Penn?s performance can?t solely be blamed on him. ?Along with the other actors, he wasn?t given any help from the film?s dense story. The cops and robbers tale isn?t just uninteresting; the story is empty and doesn?t have anything for its actors to do. Not to mention the onscreen chemistry that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone had in Crazy Stupid Love is nonexistent in Gangster Squad.

As frustrating as Gangster Squad was, I wondered what could?ve been. After the tragic July 20^th theater shooting in Aurora Colorado, Warner Bros. pulled the first trailer for Gangster Squad that featured a scene with mobsters shooting through a movie screen. The September 7^th release date was pushed back and Fleischer had to reshoot the theater scene that?s been described as a pivotal part of the film?s existing story. A change this massive involved script revisions, reshoots, and an entire retelling of the tale.

Rumor has it that at least the last quarter of the film was changed.? Even in the re-released trailer, there are scenes that aren?t in the final cut of the film.

The original cut of Gangster Squad may have plugged up some of the film?s holes and given a richer storyline that made the film?s characters more than just props with hats.

I guess we?ll never know.

Grade: C

Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/peoplescritic/2013/01/11/review-gangster-squad/

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