Gangster Squad
A Review
Shoot 'Em Up!
Gangster Squad is set in post-war Los Angeles, where gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has risen to be a powerful underworld criminal, with plans to expand his money-making operations. Determined to put an end to Cohen's enterprise, Chief Bill Parker (growling Nick Nolte) puts Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) in charge of putting together a team (aka the "Gangster Squad") to bring Cohen down. O'Mara manages to recruit his team: Sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), detectives Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena) and Max Kennard (Robert Patrick). Together, the secret team lead a vigilante-style fight against Cohen's organised crime syndicate.
Gangster Squad is the latest film by director/executive producer Ruben Fleischer, director of Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less. Gangster Squad is only his third "real" film, and his inexperience is shown in his new movie. Put it down to over-ambition, but I think this movie should have been shelved for a few years, until he's gained experience from a few more films. This one was too big for him to handle at this moment in time.
First criticisms aside, I really enjoyed this film. Although it's poorly pieced together and fails to live up to expectations, I had such a good time watching this. Ruben Fleischer's vision for this movie ends up looking great - the style of each character, everyone looks great, the gangster violence - 1940's Los Angeles has been recreated brilliantly, though not an over the top, flashy, "look at me" recreation - a good thing.
[spoilers ahead]
Each character is different, and I love it. John O'Mara (Brolin) has brought his fight from the war back home, and doesn't stop until justice is served. Jerry Wooters (Gosling) is the smooth ladies man who steals Cohen's girlfriend Grace Faraday (Emma Stone), and is also familiar with Cohen's nightclub hangouts. Coleman Harris (Mackie) brings the black into the team, with his knife being weapon of choice. Conway Keeler (Ribisi) is the "brains to balance the braun", and does intelligence for the squad. Max Kennard (Patrick) is the gun-slinging "cowboy" who never misses his target. And finally Navidad Ramirez (Pena) the Mexican who tags along with Max Kennard, the "apprentice", if you will. Every member of the team has his different strengths and personalities.
There are spots of humour throughout, and made the audience in my cinema laugh so hard. The "jailbreak scene" shows Michael Pena and Robert Patrick's characters outside a jail cell where Josh Brolin and Anthonie Mackie's characters have been locked up. They've have tied a rope between the bars on the window and a getaway car. The setup is obvious, and when it comes down to accelerating the car to pull the bars from the window in awesome jailbreak fashion, the bumper flies off the back of the car, attached to the rope. Though this could be one of the biggest clichés, this really had my audience in stitches.
My favourite scene has got to be where Cohen's henchmen drag some guy who has wronged Mickey Cohen into an isolated room. At Cohen's command, "You know the drill", the henchmen power up an electric drill and points it to the guy's head. The guy starts screaming, the camera pans to behind an opaque glass window, and you see the blood splatter and death grunt of this guy as the power drill enters his skull. Then it immediately cuts to the next scene of a close-up on a fresh, brain-coloured chicken patty being thrown on a barbecue being held across town. Brilliant.
A lot of critics say that the end climax of the film felt underdeveloped. This is because of the major re-write that had to be done on the script in wake of the Dark Knight Rises cinema shooting. The original scene included a cinema shootout, so Warner Bros. decided to have the ending of Gangster Squad re-filmed to what currently happens in the movie. I think the ending went alright. Yes, it felt underwritten. Yes, it felt rushed. But I didn't feel any any script cough and spatter at all. The climax pops off nicely (except for the fact that O'Mara decides to throw down his gun and decides to challenge Mickey Cohen to a bare-knuckle boxing fight before arresting him.... He MUST realise that Cohen is a boxing champion!)
At it's 113 minute running time, the movie felt kinda short, especially in this season of having 2.5+ hour movies. They should have spent more time developing Cohen's back story, and also invest in our hero's back stories. And, if it were a perfect world, have them piece together the script better. And take more time to be smart with the visual effects. And the score. And and and and.....
Gangster Squad is the latest film by director/executive producer Ruben Fleischer, director of Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less. Gangster Squad is only his third "real" film, and his inexperience is shown in his new movie. Put it down to over-ambition, but I think this movie should have been shelved for a few years, until he's gained experience from a few more films. This one was too big for him to handle at this moment in time.
First criticisms aside, I really enjoyed this film. Although it's poorly pieced together and fails to live up to expectations, I had such a good time watching this. Ruben Fleischer's vision for this movie ends up looking great - the style of each character, everyone looks great, the gangster violence - 1940's Los Angeles has been recreated brilliantly, though not an over the top, flashy, "look at me" recreation - a good thing.
[spoilers ahead]
"HERE COMES SANTY-CLAUS!"
This movie is badass. The action scenes are spot on. You'll notice the way everyone fights - they really want to cripple their opponents with direct punches to forearms, hits to the ribs and breaking faces. And this movie does not shy away from showing blood, and just the right amount of blood - not over the top "Quentin Tarantino" blood, but something just appropriate. That's not to say that this movie isn't violent - it is full of violence. The first scene shows a guy being torn apart by two cars driving in opposite directions, then having Cohen's dogs eat his insides.
Each character is different, and I love it. John O'Mara (Brolin) has brought his fight from the war back home, and doesn't stop until justice is served. Jerry Wooters (Gosling) is the smooth ladies man who steals Cohen's girlfriend Grace Faraday (Emma Stone), and is also familiar with Cohen's nightclub hangouts. Coleman Harris (Mackie) brings the black into the team, with his knife being weapon of choice. Conway Keeler (Ribisi) is the "brains to balance the braun", and does intelligence for the squad. Max Kennard (Patrick) is the gun-slinging "cowboy" who never misses his target. And finally Navidad Ramirez (Pena) the Mexican who tags along with Max Kennard, the "apprentice", if you will. Every member of the team has his different strengths and personalities.
There are spots of humour throughout, and made the audience in my cinema laugh so hard. The "jailbreak scene" shows Michael Pena and Robert Patrick's characters outside a jail cell where Josh Brolin and Anthonie Mackie's characters have been locked up. They've have tied a rope between the bars on the window and a getaway car. The setup is obvious, and when it comes down to accelerating the car to pull the bars from the window in awesome jailbreak fashion, the bumper flies off the back of the car, attached to the rope. Though this could be one of the biggest clichés, this really had my audience in stitches.
My favourite scene has got to be where Cohen's henchmen drag some guy who has wronged Mickey Cohen into an isolated room. At Cohen's command, "You know the drill", the henchmen power up an electric drill and points it to the guy's head. The guy starts screaming, the camera pans to behind an opaque glass window, and you see the blood splatter and death grunt of this guy as the power drill enters his skull. Then it immediately cuts to the next scene of a close-up on a fresh, brain-coloured chicken patty being thrown on a barbecue being held across town. Brilliant.
A Whole 'Lotta Tantrums...
Gangster Squad made me want to throw a tantrum. It isn't what I wanted!! It came so close in a lot of senses.. If the guys just used the camera a little smarter, it would have been a great visual film. There was just one visual scene that I loved, and that is during the "jailbreak scene". The lights have been shut off, and Brolin's character has managed to escape the cell. Now each time a gun goes off, the room flashes with light, and there is like a freeze-frame effect that captures a close up of the action. The movie needed more of that, and more. It could have been such a great visual film! A missed opportunity..
Another swing and a miss was the score. The music used to build suspense works in a glitchy kind of way.. Meaning that one minute you'd feel the thrill of the scene, then with one note or some sort of tweak, you'd lose it. Plus it sounded way too close to the Inception theme in some parts, then tried to mesh it with the standard "action rush" tempo.
The 40's LA lingo is wayyyyy over-stylised and overused. Obviously the way people spoke back then is different to the way we do now, but a lot of the time in this film it doesn't fly - for example, whenever Emma Stone's character talks in this 40's gangster-speak, it just falls to the ground. For her, and a heap of other times with other characters, it just made me screw up my face and ask, "WHY?".
Another thing you'll notice, there's A LOT of temper tantrums in Gangster Squad, and literally made me laugh out loud by the fifth or sixth "RARRRRR I'M SO PISSED!!" *overturns table*
Oh, the major problem with this film, even more so than the misdirection and swings and misses, is that the big bad guy, Mickey Cohen, is way underdeveloped. We're thrown into the film with him torturing someone (the guy and the opposite-driving cars), and it's like "Here's your bad guy. He's bad, believe me. Look at what he's doing, he's bad!" - there's not even a 5 minute visual introduction that explores his origin story. All we know is he's a sour-faced crook, and he's gonna send a henchman to take care of business. The film doesn't make me feel his menace, his villainy. This is the most important thing! Again, it's nearly there, but that's just not good enough. I didn't feel it.
Another swing and a miss was the score. The music used to build suspense works in a glitchy kind of way.. Meaning that one minute you'd feel the thrill of the scene, then with one note or some sort of tweak, you'd lose it. Plus it sounded way too close to the Inception theme in some parts, then tried to mesh it with the standard "action rush" tempo.
The 40's LA lingo is wayyyyy over-stylised and overused. Obviously the way people spoke back then is different to the way we do now, but a lot of the time in this film it doesn't fly - for example, whenever Emma Stone's character talks in this 40's gangster-speak, it just falls to the ground. For her, and a heap of other times with other characters, it just made me screw up my face and ask, "WHY?".
Another thing you'll notice, there's A LOT of temper tantrums in Gangster Squad, and literally made me laugh out loud by the fifth or sixth "RARRRRR I'M SO PISSED!!" *overturns table*
Oh, the major problem with this film, even more so than the misdirection and swings and misses, is that the big bad guy, Mickey Cohen, is way underdeveloped. We're thrown into the film with him torturing someone (the guy and the opposite-driving cars), and it's like "Here's your bad guy. He's bad, believe me. Look at what he's doing, he's bad!" - there's not even a 5 minute visual introduction that explores his origin story. All we know is he's a sour-faced crook, and he's gonna send a henchman to take care of business. The film doesn't make me feel his menace, his villainy. This is the most important thing! Again, it's nearly there, but that's just not good enough. I didn't feel it.
A lot of critics say that the end climax of the film felt underdeveloped. This is because of the major re-write that had to be done on the script in wake of the Dark Knight Rises cinema shooting. The original scene included a cinema shootout, so Warner Bros. decided to have the ending of Gangster Squad re-filmed to what currently happens in the movie. I think the ending went alright. Yes, it felt underwritten. Yes, it felt rushed. But I didn't feel any any script cough and spatter at all. The climax pops off nicely (except for the fact that O'Mara decides to throw down his gun and decides to challenge Mickey Cohen to a bare-knuckle boxing fight before arresting him.... He MUST realise that Cohen is a boxing champion!)
At it's 113 minute running time, the movie felt kinda short, especially in this season of having 2.5+ hour movies. They should have spent more time developing Cohen's back story, and also invest in our hero's back stories. And, if it were a perfect world, have them piece together the script better. And take more time to be smart with the visual effects. And the score. And and and and.....
Don't Shoot Where It's At, Shoot Where It's Gonna Be...
Gangster Squad was a really fun movie. The casting is great, the action scenes are thrilling and they don't hold back. I had such a good time watching it and felt excited to be in this world.
There is a repeated line throughout the film, "Don't shoot where it's at, shoot where it's gonna be". Ruben Fleischer should have taken this advice when making this film, because that's what the end result of this film is: a bunch of shots that have missed their targets.
Gangster Squad...
...3 out of 5 gangster 'Staches
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