Okay, I'm a bit biased. I'm partial to movies featuring trench coats, fedoras, tough-talking cops, smooth-talking dames, and blazing Tommy guns. "Gangster Squad" is the type of movie I go to the movies hoping to see every year, my typical fantasies transferred directly to the big screen.
Recent attempts at the genre, like Frank Miller's misguided "The Spirit" and Brian De Palma's overwrought "The Black Dahlia", have been hit-and- miss. But "Gangster Squad" hits the mark, having more in common with De Palma's 1987 classic "The Untouchables." The premise alone bears an uncanny resemblance. Set in 1940's L.A. instead of 1920's Chicago, the movie follows an incorruptible cop hand-picking a team of honest cops to take down a notorious gangster, this time Mickey Cohen instead of Al Capone. But while "The Untouchables" required a great cast to carry Kevin Costner as its lead, Josh Brolin's acting chops are more similar to Sean Connery's. Brolin plays Sergeant John O'Mara, a grizzled hero whose unwillingness to stay out of Mickey Cohen's way makes waves for his superiors, but Chief Bill Parker (a surprisingly dignified performance by Nick Nolte) recruits him to head a task force with the mission of undermining Cohen's rule.
O'Mara contrasts sharply with younger, go-with-the-flow Sgt. Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who is content to spend his nights gambling, drinking, and picking up dames at Cohen's favorite nightclub, but soon finds himself joining the team. O'Mara recruits switchblade-wielding beat cop Anthony Mackie, old-timey wild-westerner Robert Patrick (complete with six-shooter and Yosemite Sam mustache), and tech whiz Giovanni Ribisi to round out the team, with Robert Patrick's Hispanic partner Michael Pena joining the party without being formally invited.
While "The Untouchables" boasted method actor Robert DeNiro as Al Capone, it was hard to forget he was Robert DeNiro. By comparison, Sean Penn disappears completely into the role of infamous boxer-turned- mobster Mickey Cohen. He's truly terrifying from the moment, barely past the studio logos, we see what he does to those who oppose or fail him.
Emma Stone, needless to say, is pretty as a pin-up as the dame, Cohen's main squeeze with red hair and redder lips. But she's not the movie's only eye candy. There's plenty of gorgeous cinematography of Los Angeles landmarks and glossy recreations of 40's nightclubs and casinos. And, as much as I want to dislike Ryan Gosling, he's great as the youthful detective whose love affair with Stone's character forms a large part of the narrative. But it's ultimately Brolin's straight- laced detective and family man who carries the movie, from the moment he punches his way into a mob-controlled hotel to save a blonde bombshell from being initiated into a brothel in his introductory scene.
While "Gangster Squad" has all the trademarks of the film noir genre, that's just the outward veneer of an all-out action flick, more in the vein of "The Untouchables" or "Dick Tracy" than "The Maltese Falcon", with fist fights, shootouts, and a car chase (with beautiful vintage 40's vehicle, naturally) that are as bloody and brutal as anything else in movies right now. While the movie may include a few clichés too many, or Ruben Fleischer (who directed Emma Stone in "Zombieland") may rely a few times too many on modern film tricks like slow motion and dizzying camera angles, "Gangster Squad" is the best entry in the genre in decades.
Recent attempts at the genre, like Frank Miller's misguided "The Spirit" and Brian De Palma's overwrought "The Black Dahlia", have been hit-and- miss. But "Gangster Squad" hits the mark, having more in common with De Palma's 1987 classic "The Untouchables." The premise alone bears an uncanny resemblance. Set in 1940's L.A. instead of 1920's Chicago, the movie follows an incorruptible cop hand-picking a team of honest cops to take down a notorious gangster, this time Mickey Cohen instead of Al Capone. But while "The Untouchables" required a great cast to carry Kevin Costner as its lead, Josh Brolin's acting chops are more similar to Sean Connery's. Brolin plays Sergeant John O'Mara, a grizzled hero whose unwillingness to stay out of Mickey Cohen's way makes waves for his superiors, but Chief Bill Parker (a surprisingly dignified performance by Nick Nolte) recruits him to head a task force with the mission of undermining Cohen's rule.
O'Mara contrasts sharply with younger, go-with-the-flow Sgt. Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who is content to spend his nights gambling, drinking, and picking up dames at Cohen's favorite nightclub, but soon finds himself joining the team. O'Mara recruits switchblade-wielding beat cop Anthony Mackie, old-timey wild-westerner Robert Patrick (complete with six-shooter and Yosemite Sam mustache), and tech whiz Giovanni Ribisi to round out the team, with Robert Patrick's Hispanic partner Michael Pena joining the party without being formally invited.
While "The Untouchables" boasted method actor Robert DeNiro as Al Capone, it was hard to forget he was Robert DeNiro. By comparison, Sean Penn disappears completely into the role of infamous boxer-turned- mobster Mickey Cohen. He's truly terrifying from the moment, barely past the studio logos, we see what he does to those who oppose or fail him.
Emma Stone, needless to say, is pretty as a pin-up as the dame, Cohen's main squeeze with red hair and redder lips. But she's not the movie's only eye candy. There's plenty of gorgeous cinematography of Los Angeles landmarks and glossy recreations of 40's nightclubs and casinos. And, as much as I want to dislike Ryan Gosling, he's great as the youthful detective whose love affair with Stone's character forms a large part of the narrative. But it's ultimately Brolin's straight- laced detective and family man who carries the movie, from the moment he punches his way into a mob-controlled hotel to save a blonde bombshell from being initiated into a brothel in his introductory scene.
While "Gangster Squad" has all the trademarks of the film noir genre, that's just the outward veneer of an all-out action flick, more in the vein of "The Untouchables" or "Dick Tracy" than "The Maltese Falcon", with fist fights, shootouts, and a car chase (with beautiful vintage 40's vehicle, naturally) that are as bloody and brutal as anything else in movies right now. While the movie may include a few clichés too many, or Ruben Fleischer (who directed Emma Stone in "Zombieland") may rely a few times too many on modern film tricks like slow motion and dizzying camera angles, "Gangster Squad" is the best entry in the genre in decades.