GANGSTER SQUAD Should Have Been Smarter and Grittier

Mobsters are trying to get a foothold in the City of Angels, and good cop John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and his gangster squad come to the rescue.

We are introduced to L.A. in 1954 – first thing we see is big crime lord Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) having a  guy ripped apart by two cars. Way to set the mood! Next, we’re introduced to the crime fighters of L.A.: the previously mentioned O’Mara, who saves a damsel in distress and with that stirs up the hornet’s (Cohen’s) nest,  the skeptical  and jaded Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), and their corrupt boss (Mick Betancourt). O’Mara’s told to keep his hands off of anything that has to do with Cohen, but as he tells his pregnant wife, he can’t, because that would betray his morals. Fortunately for O’Mara, Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) assigns him to put together a gangster squad to rid the city of Cohen and co. for once and for all.

The “gangster squad” O’Mara puts together exists out of himself and five others: a military rocket scientist (no, really) veteran (Giovanni Ribisi), a Clint Eastwood type  gunslinger (Robert Patrick) and his Mexican sidekick (Michael Peña), the good black cop who fights crime in the bad neighborhood (Anthony Mackie), and Jerry Wooters, who at first was not interested to join, but after he sees Cohen’s thugs kill a kid he liked, he decides to join the team after all. A twist: Wooters is together with Grace Faraday (Emma Stone), who is the “etiquette tutor” and pet of Mickey Cohen, which of course does not appease the mobster.

The team tries to rid L.A. of Cohen by using highly violent and, really, criminal tactics. What they do is far from legal: they kill, fight and damage. They are slowed down occasionally by the police precinct and judge that back Cohen, and the movie ends with a huge showdown between good and bad.

Let’s start with the fact that I was thoroughly annoyed by Sean Penn and his character, Mickey Cohen. Not only was his face too orange (no more spray tan and sunbed for you, mr. Penn!), the accent and facial expressions he used for Cohen were incredibly over the top, and the character was just generally too cliché mobster bad guy. No credits to the writing, there, either. I was not impressed.

However, I did really like the Jerry Wooters character – cynical and dark, and generally not very positive about law enforcement. Ryan Gosling played him convincingly. John O’Mara was the opposite of Wooters. He still believes in justice, in law enforcement, and that crime should be fought no matter the means. While Josh Brolin did a good job at playing the cool cop, I honestly think that he was too good.

Dion Beebe, winner of many awards among which an Academy Award, did a stellar job on the cinematography of this movie. The camera angles, the lighting and the shots – the sequence of close up, long and mid shots were excellent. Especially the opening scene where Cohen was shown boxing in slow motion stood out to me, the sepia filter did add to the feeling of noir film – too bad that promise didn’t come true in the rest of the movie. The problem with this movie, I think, is the direction. Ruben Fleischer had a great cast and a great crew to his disposal, and still the movie was incredibly unimaginative and lacked creativity. It’s a shame, because the movie could have been much better.

I hoped this movie would be somewhat like the 50s film noir, as the trailer hinted at it a little. Film noir often has a dark premise, crime has overrun a city, and law enforcement has lost all hope of battling it. There were some elements of this in Gangster Squad, however, in noir, the main character, the cop, is corrupt, lost and often alcoholic, and that was not the case with O’Mara. He’s as good as the good cop comes. It’s a personal preference, but I don’t like the idyllic portrayal of law enforcement in movie. Perhaps it’s a bit masochistic as I don’t let myself believe in the supposed power of justice, but I love it when a movie shows the dark side of crime fighting, the hopelessness, the grittiness of it. Even the action sequences are too smooth. I think for this movie to be a real success, it should have embraced some of the film noir grittiness more – the setting and time period lent itself to it perfectly, and practically demanded it.

On a final note: the costuming was excellent. Very well done, Mary Zophres.

Discussion

This is the speech of Nick Nolte’s character Chief Parker to O’Mara when he is assigned to the task force that has to save L.A.:

“I want to talk to you about the war for the soul of LA. You see, our fore-bearers fought savages Indians and Mexican bandits to win LA. And now we’re losing her to an Eastern crook. No one will testify, they know it’s suicide. This isn’t a crime wave, it’s enemy occupation and you’ve fought in occupied territory before. I need you to wage guerrilla war against Mickey Cohen. We’re finally going after him.” […] “You’re off the books, you are to make no arrests. […] With Cohen dead, his empire would only attract others of his kind. I want you to shatter his operations, destroy his establishments, and drive that bastard out of this city.” 

This struck me as extremely sensationalist and over the top. What is expressed here, though, and what is shown throughout the film is that the law enforcement practically has a license to violence, even a license to kill. All in the name of fighting crime. It was shown as if this is a good thing, that this is the way that crime should be fought. O’Mara is portrayed as the good, straight cop, but meanwhile, he kills, hurts and damages, all in the name of fighting crime. How good is he, then, really? Doesn’t that put him on the same level as the criminals he’s fighting? It gave me goosebumps.

At some point, however, O’Mara is asked by Conwell (the rocket scientist) what the difference is between them and the criminals – ah, the moment of morality, I thought. But then, O’Mara simply states: “this is the only way we can beat them”. Alright, so yes, maybe that is dark, maybe that is gritty, but man, is it simplistic. During the entire movie, the big problem is the one corrupt judge (John Aylward), who makes the legal approach of fighting these criminals impossible because he is bought by Mickey, but surely, there were more judges in town?

I rest my case. I think this movie could have done with a smarter plot, more grit and perhaps a better (more experienced) director. Nevertheless, it was somewhat entertaining. I won’t ever watch it again though, most likely.

What do you think?