Gangster Squad [2013]

Language - English
Director - Ruben Fleischer
Run Time - 1 hour, 53 minutes
Genre - Crime/Drama

Ruben Fleischer's film noir-esque movie promises a lot, but fails to deliver. Even with a first rate cast of wonderful actors such as Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie and Emma Stone, the film fails miserably. That too, Emma Stone has been used just as an eye candy in the movie, it seems. A dismal waste of her talent. The problem is the director relies on the sole talent of the actors to deliver a non-existent story. In a gangster movie, one would expect emotion, excitement, tragedy; but this movie moves in a perpendicular line where one expects ups and downs.

Also, the movie moves at such a fast pace, there's hardly a moment to sit back, and look at where the storyline is progressing. The lack of strong dialogues also hurt the movie. Even right after seeing the movie, I cannot recall a single noteworthy dialogue.

Sean Penn portrays Mickey Cohen, the infamous L.A. Gangster of the 1940's, and the rest of the cast make up the Gangster Squad, a wily bunch of cops, working outside the law to return peace to the streets of Los Angeles. So Cohen has build up an empire as the king of L.A, with judges, police and the press all endorsing his brand of terror. Enter Sgt. John O'Maara, the quintessential hero, who is all for fighting the good fight. But as he cannot fight alone, he gathers a bunch of misfits, who then become to be known as the 'Gangster Squad'. Watch to see how the Gangster take on Cohen, and his army.

Add to that, the abysmal usage of special effects in some scenes, especially where fire is involved. There were effects used for scenes which had no need of them frankly.
Giving this film a miss would not hurt much

My Rating - 6.2/10