Gangster Squad

A simple action movie pretending to be a retro gangster film, where actors are illuminated like mannequins in a store. One or two thrilling scenes, a brisk pace, one-dimensional characters, attractive camera filters and a horribly directed Ryan Gosling. For him to fumble, the director’s skill must be truly abysmal. How could they have gotten such an acting ensemble for this screenplay?! Right between two and three stars, and I’m giving two because it’s a defiling of Sergio Leone and Brian De Palma. (01/24/2013)

A brisk genre affair with perfect action scenes, a likable cast and a pleasantly popcorn atmosphere, and which includes both suspense and humor. At first I was worried that Gangster Squad would steal too much from The Untouchables, but as time went on I stopped thinking about it altogether and just had fun. And why not?__P.S. Jablonsky's music (I liked it this time) sounds a bit like Zimmer's “Sherlock Holmes", and "Gangster Squad" quotes Morricone's “The Untouchables" in the final track. That is not a bad thing. (07/05/2014)

It’s shallow kitsch, without much in terms of wisdom from the screenwriter, but it’s still watchable, thanks mainly to the good cast, the nice visuals and the craftsmanship. Sean Penn’s main evil gangster, though, feels like self-parody; his attempts at looking insane and maniac were funny – but that also contributed to my experience as a viewer, which I would describe as satisfactory. It’s unlikely that I will watch Gangster Squad again (not alone, at least), but I didn’t feel any acute need to get as far away from the screen as possible. (04/03/2013)

Six brave and incorruptible men against one serious candidate for plastic surgery and a stay in a psychiatric clinic. I wouldn’t have been bothered at all by Fleischer’s attempt to adapt this strange mix of gangster and noir motifs to the tastes of comic-book readers and gamers if the film wasn’t a failure on more basic levels: development of the characters, creation of dramatic tension, logic of action, consistency of atmosphere. The whole film consistently adheres to comic-book stylisation in the mould of Dick Tracy (from which Penn’s psychotic troll most likely escaped), and I won’t mention the ill-considered violence of numerous scenes, and the fascist methods of the “hunters” (who, unlike the protagonists of De Palma’s The Untouchables, obviously have no moral inhibitions) aren’t worthy of comment. However, the inclination toward heroic pathos is much more common than the deliberate parodying of the genre. Though they look good on the posters, they are also as flat as the posters as they pay the price for going from one extreme to the other. Neither the content nor the manner of storytelling offers anything that could draw us in or make us fear for the protagonists characters, or at least spark our interest in how the story will continue. As a brutally straightforward and straightforwardly brutal shoot ’em up (unfortunately with supremely unclear action scenes, including the fistfights), Gangster Squad can make for a pleasant evening, but it also leaves a bitter aftertaste. I consider the failure to make a better film with such an excellent cast, an Oscar-winning cinematographer and a highly capable soundtrack composer to be an act of Hollywood-style organised crime. 65% (02/02/2013)

This modern approach is inappropriate. Moreover, Sean Penn completely overacted and Cohen became just a weird caricature. Thank God the casting of the team who are meant to lend him a hand is top-notch. Brolin is wonderfully obstinate, Gosling gives a standard performance and the Kurt-like Robert Patrick as the last gun-fighter in L.A. It lacks sophistication and intelligence, and modern slow-motion effects are sometimes impressive, but they begin to be bothersome after a while. A popcorn gangster movie cannot be filmed. Maybe it’s a also shame that the notorious scene in the movie theater disappeared. (04/09/2013)