Gangster Squad

It’s shallow kitsch, without much in terms of wisdom from the screenwriter, but it’s still watchable, thanks mainly to the good cast, the nice visuals and the craftsmanship. Sean Penn’s main evil gangster, though, feels like self-parody; his attempts at looking insane and maniac were funny – but that also contributed to my experience as a viewer, which I would describe as satisfactory. It’s unlikely that I will watch Gangster Squad again (not alone, at least), but I didn’t feel any acute need to get as far away from the screen as possible. (04/04/2013)

A brisk genre affair with perfect action scenes, a likable cast and a pleasantly popcorn atmosphere, and which includes both suspense and humor. At first I was worried that Gangster Squad would steal too much from The Untouchables, but as time went on I stopped thinking about it altogether and just had fun. And why not?__P.S. Jablonsky's music (I liked it this time) sounds a bit like Zimmer's “Sherlock Holmes", and "Gangster Squad" quotes Morricone's “The Untouchables" in the final track. That is not a bad thing. (06/07/2014)

Shallow popcorn flick that lacks the soul, the atmosphere and that one memorable scene that have always made the gangster genre so attractive and rewarding to viewers. There are many moments, especially the last ten minutes, that were written following the manual "How to make an unwanted parody of a genre quickly and easily." The only thing that keeps it afloat is Josh Brolin’s manly charisma. On the whole, it's as routine and stupid as Zombieland, which I expected from Fleischer, so there's no question of disappointment. And please, don’t give me that “Inspired by a True Story” line. (12/04/2013)

After the first negative reactions, I was expecting some kind of dud, but it’s actually made very differently than I thought. No Scorsese and his typical precision, no De Palma and the great psychology of the characters, it’s only genre fan Ruben Fleischer who drew a Thompson on a paper instead of writing a script, shoved it into the hands of a bunch of top-notch actors, and let them go at it for nearly two hours in a style rivalled only by the recent Expendables 2. And all this against the backdrop of a very authentic retro atmosphere and Jablonsky's catchy soundtrack, which gives the action scenes more pizzazz. There’s one cliché after another, all the actors, except for the extremely scene-chewing Penn, get by with two expressions, and Emma Stone is just eye-candy that we could have done without this time. But, and this is quite important from my point of view in a product of film ENTERTAINMENT, you don't get bored for a moment. Admittedly, it’s a kind of guiltier entertainment, where we're well aware that we're witnessing an over-the-top, over-stylized and overly stupid Hollywood affair, but its negative impact on my humble viewing intelligence was ultimately not as overwhelming as I had feared. 65% (27/02/2013)

An even bigger mistake than expecting Gangster Squad to be the new L.A. Confidential is to watch L.A. Confidential two days beforehand. I don't mind the lemonade game of gangsters, which mainly treads on a 'sunny' note because the actors fit the period suits exactly, cigarettes are smoked countless times, and there are plenty of excuses to get the Thompsons to bark. I can accept all that until Fleischer says he'd like to be the new DePalma and switches from funny conversational humor to serious mode, where he fails utterly. In fact, all the action scenes seem to have been shoehorned into the film as an afterthought, only one of the two female characters is anchored in the plot, and the police unit is carried by Brolin's charisma and Gosling's smile. To top it all off, it features a collection of annoying Hollywood clichés. A well-deserved fail. (01/02/2013)