I have never been much of a Sean Penn fan, yeah I said it. He seems to have always played the same guy in all his movies, so much so that I questioned if he was an actual actor (like I question Clive Owens) but when Sean did Harvey Milk so convincingly, I never questioned him again. In Gangster Squad, Sean impresses me again. In his portrayal of mobster Mickey Cohen, Sean Penn nails it, in my opinion. Without him, this film could have easily been a joke. Along for this ride is his costar from Milk, Josh Brolin who plays the head of the Gangster Squad Sgt. John O'Mara. He's tasked by Chief Parker, played by Nick Nolte, to go after Mickey by any and all means. O'Mara's pregnant wife Connie, played by Mireille Enos helps him pick his squad of cop thugs. Together they enlist the help of Sgt. Jerry Wooters, played by Ryan Gosling, Officer Max Kennard, played by Robert Patrick, Officer Navidad Ramirez, played by Micheal Pena, Officer Conway Keeler, played by Giovani Ribisi, and Officer Coleman Harris, played by the talented Anthony Mackie.
Those five men engage Mickey Cohen in a way he's never known before. Everyone thinks the officers are a new gang, moving in on Los Angeles and Cohen's territories, even the papers buy into it. The movie is supposed to be inspired by true events but since the "Gangster Squad" was off the books, no one knows if this is true or not because there is supposedly no paperwork on them. The movie is adapted from the book "Gangster Squad" written by Paul Lieberman, who co wrote the screenplay with Will Beall, and because it seems the dialogue is ripped straight out of every other gangster movie ever made, I'll pass on reading the book. With this cast you would think this would be a slam dunk but again, had it not been for Sean Penn who is the glue of this movie, it would have fallen apart. Mickey's "culture coach", Grace Faraday is played by the lovely Emma Stone, who of course while being involved with a gangster, falls in love with Sgt. Wooters. True or not, who's to say? Stupid move, definitely.
If this movie sounds like a complete rip off of the classic The Untouchables with Costner and Connery, that's because there are elements where The Untouchables impacts Squads story line in so many ways. If you've never seen The Untouchables, see that instead of this. Trust me, you won't be sorry. At least in that movie, people could shoot. Gangster Squad has some of the most inaccurate Tommy gun shooting I have ever seen. Now the Tommy gun was known to be notoriously inaccurate, but this was ridiculous. Now when I saw the first trailer for this movie, there was a scene that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I couldn't wait to see it on the big screen. The movie was supposed to hit theaters last summer, it was delayed for re shoots, then it was supposed to hit last fall but tragedy struck Aurora, Colorado and the movie was pushed back again and I knew why after seeing the movie.
That scene, the one that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, was a moment where Mickey's henchmen shoot up a movie theater. They shoot through the movie screen as they try to kill O'Mara and the way it was done made me say "Nice". However, after Aurora, the trailer was altered and that scene was removed as it was in the movie. They had to go back and re shoot the entire third act of the movie because of the movie theater shooting in Aurora. The producers didn't want to seem insensitive and while I can't blame them, they removed what looked like the best scene of the movie, out of the movie. This movie was shot like it was filmed by a film school graduate. There was nothing artistic, graceful, stylized, or inspiring about the the way this movie was shot or directed. the two things this movie did have going for it was Sean Penn, and Steve Jablonsky's score. Usually known for his over the top sound, Steve toned things down considerably for this movie and it worked like a charm. Check it out, see for yourself and let me know if you think I'm write or wrong, and I'll see you at the theater.
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