Gangster Squad

We've all seen crime drama films about the mob or mafia before. So many have there been, they could be considered having their own genre. The list is endless: "The Godfather", "Casino", "Goodfellows", "American Gangster", the most recent, "Killing Them Softly"; even in the form of a comedy like "The Freshman" and most recently "Seven Psychopaths", but "Gangster Squad" certainly put the 'C' in colorful.

Los Angeles, 1949. A secret crew of police officers created by Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) who are led by two determined LAPD sergeants, Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) work together in an effort to take down the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) who runs the city as far as guns, drugs, prostitution with the protection of not only the henchmen he has, but through the corrupt cops and politicians he controls and 'owns'. This is a retelling of those events that involved a handful of honest, good-intentioned LAPD cops to do what they had to do to get their city back, or lose it to dishonesty, corruption, and immorality.

Others to round out the cast are Emma Stone as Grace Faraday, Mickey's gal, Anthony Mackie as Officer Coleman Harris, Giovanni Ribisi as Officer Conway Keeler, Robert Patrick as Officer Max Kennard, Michael Pena as Officer Navidad Ramirez (all officers represent rest of the squad), Sullivan Stapleton as Jack Whalen, Mireille Enos as Connie O'Mara, John's wife, Josh Pence as Officer Darryl Gates, Jon Polito as Dragna, a Chicago mobster, John Aylward as Judge Carter, Austin Abrams as Pete, shoeshine kid, Haley Strode as Keeler's wife, and Maxwell Perry Cotton as Keeler's son.

This was very adequately directed by Ruben Fleischer ("The Right Now! Show (TV movie) '07, "Zombieland" '09, "30 Minutes or Less" '11). He was really able to get these actors to realistically emit a true determination of their stance, whether it be for the good or the bad. It's was slickly, almost effortlessly written by Will Beall which was based on the book "Gangster Squad" by Paul Lieberman which, of course, was based on the event itself.

If you're sitting on the fence of whether or not to see this on the large screen, the photography alone by Dion Beebe,acs/asc, and additional cinematography by Caleb Deschanel,asc would be enough to prompt you. These guys are both superb at their craft and this film shows that.

This is a solid film, not perfect, but considering the few flaws in this, they aren't enough to detract from the full impact that the makers of this project were attempting to convey. Penn's over-the-top performance as Cohen was, alone, worth the price of admission.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                       Rated: R                         113mins.