It is not hard these days to find a classic shoot-’em-up action film, if you are so inclined: a movie with muscle-bound male leads, cheesy one-liners and a trite good-versus-evil plotline. And, of course, any action movie requires eye-popping fight scenes. Films like these are fairly common. But an action movie wrapped in a period piece? That is a little more unique. And that is exactly what “Gangster Squad” is.
“Gangster Squad” is the story of mob boss Mickey Cohen’s (Sean Penn) battle for Los Angeles against a small team of police led by former soldier John O’Mara (Josh Brolin). It has all the basic tropes of the genre: the good versus evil, the one-liners, the fights. But instead of beefy former-jock leads, the film has veteran actors like Brolin, Penn and Ryan Gosling as cops and robbers in 1949 Los Angeles. The dialogue and setting look like they came straight from an old noir film or pulp novel.
The film is visually stunning. I’m a sucker for the art deco style of the ’40s, in which the film is saturated. It looks exactly as you would imagine a gangster movie to look, except brighter and sunnier to fit the southern California location. The action scenes, both gun play and hand-to-hand, are shot in interesting ways. There are lots of slow-motion shots and almost-subtle uses of special effects to keep those scenes high-paced and thrilling.
The plot, about a group of honest cops who go off the books to take down the boxer-turned-criminal Cohen’s operations, is at its core a very cliche story. Though based loosely on a true story, the movie is heavily biased and made to be more heart-wrenching. If you can’t watch movies where innocence is violently shattered, stay away from this one.
Brolin’s protagonist, who never seemed to leave World War II behind, is sanctimonious at times and not very likeable. Luckily his wife Connie, played by Mireille Enos, is just about perfect. Strong-willed, likeable and with some of the best lines, any scene with her in it was a blast. And Gosling’s romantic sub-plot with Emma Stone as Cohen’s girlfriend who falls for the ever-attractive police officer should have been boring and overdone but became the beating heart of the movie. This was completely thanks to the overwhelming chemistry between Gosling and Stone, who should become the new Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy or Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and be in every film together.
So if you are a fan of action or old gangster films, then definitely go see “Gangster Squad.” If you are at all squeamish or faint of heart, you should probably sit this one out.
