Directed by : Ruben Fleischer
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321870/
These cops they trying to steal what's mine.. Los Angeles belongs to me.
The story is set in 1949 when a gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) who runs the city Los Angeles has plans of expanding his control over the city. A cop John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is handed a secret mission of destroying Cohen's plans and take him out of the city. John forms a squad of varied skillfull people and names it 'Gangster Squad'.
The screenplay of this movie follows the numerous past gangster films with a voiceover of a character narrating the story at various parts of the movie. The way squad struggles and then starts getting the job done is very well done. But, what makes the film not work for me is there's no building up the characters except for John and Jerry (Ryan Gosling). The editing too should had been tighter and probably more use of slow motions and unusual camera angles as the feel of gangster movie fades a lot of times.
Sean Penn doesn't get scope to outperform as the main person the gangster squad is against, except for that 1st violent sequence he has and then the one where he in anger comes out of his room shooting around. He should have had more action scenes where he wins. John's scenes with his wife also appear not too good, leaving the one where she helps him choose right people for the mission.
Ryan Gosling was the best for me, as he's the one who takes time to join the squad realising John doesn't care about death and he prefers to be alive. He examines everything before moving forward. Love the scene where he survives getting killed by a whisker.
There's good humour that the magazine detective guy brings into the squad, specially the scene where he shows his shooting skills. And, his assistant who follows him everywhere, even joins the squad. The final scene between them was very good one.
Its the weak direction and poor characterization that lets the movie down. Still, Gangster Squad has some very good action sequences to watch it for.
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321870/
These cops they trying to steal what's mine.. Los Angeles belongs to me.
The story is set in 1949 when a gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) who runs the city Los Angeles has plans of expanding his control over the city. A cop John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is handed a secret mission of destroying Cohen's plans and take him out of the city. John forms a squad of varied skillfull people and names it 'Gangster Squad'.
The screenplay of this movie follows the numerous past gangster films with a voiceover of a character narrating the story at various parts of the movie. The way squad struggles and then starts getting the job done is very well done. But, what makes the film not work for me is there's no building up the characters except for John and Jerry (Ryan Gosling). The editing too should had been tighter and probably more use of slow motions and unusual camera angles as the feel of gangster movie fades a lot of times.
Sean Penn doesn't get scope to outperform as the main person the gangster squad is against, except for that 1st violent sequence he has and then the one where he in anger comes out of his room shooting around. He should have had more action scenes where he wins. John's scenes with his wife also appear not too good, leaving the one where she helps him choose right people for the mission.
Ryan Gosling was the best for me, as he's the one who takes time to join the squad realising John doesn't care about death and he prefers to be alive. He examines everything before moving forward. Love the scene where he survives getting killed by a whisker.
There's good humour that the magazine detective guy brings into the squad, specially the scene where he shows his shooting skills. And, his assistant who follows him everywhere, even joins the squad. The final scene between them was very good one.
Its the weak direction and poor characterization that lets the movie down. Still, Gangster Squad has some very good action sequences to watch it for.
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