REVIEW: Gangster Squad (2013)

Gangster Squads opens with Sergeant John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), as he rescues a fresh faced young woman from a group of potential rapists. The scene in case does well in setting up a mood and audience expectations for what will follow in the next two hours: bad dialogue, excessive violence and a whole boat load of clichés. For what it’s worth however, Gangster Squad is not a bad film.

Brolin is one of the highlights, as All-American action hero O’Mara, although there is little in the way of character development. But truth be told, there is little in the way of character development for the entire cast of characters. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone serve as the love interest as Sergeant Jerry Wooters and Grace Faraday, respectively. Although the two actors on screen presence is enjoyable (as they have proven before in rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love), it’s hard to care for them as there is practically no reason to do so. The films’ lead antagonist, Mickey Cohen is played by the brilliant Sean Penn. His out performs Brolin by a margin, but his noticeable make-up is laughable and often gets in the way of his acting.

The script is equally as laughable. Loaded with clichés and sometimes just flat-out bad dialogue, its only redeeming feature is the star-studded cast who have been burdened with it. More often than not, a character results to acts of violence as a response to particular situations. I couldn’t help but notice that certain characters, such as Wooters, picking up the nearest object at hand and flinging it as hard as they can onto the ground. A few of these situations mark character deaths, which should be sombre moments, but are only made laughable by the over the top acts of rage that accompany these parts.

Partly because of the under-developed characters, and partly because of the bad dialogue, the deaths of certain key characters don’t even hit home as hard as they should. Even when one of the more likeable characters meets his end, I found myself not really caring for his untimely demise.

Regardless, when they are done well, the action scenes are intense and a pleasure to watch. The final gun fight is well shot and does well in masking up the unforgiveable acts of rage that the characters seem to be prone to.

Verdict: an enjoyable gangster flick, although under-developed characters, a bad script and peculiar acts of violence and rage destroy any hint of what could have been a modern classic.

Score: 6.0/10