Gangster Squad

An unpleasantly loud burst bubble, drowning one of the most promising acting ensembles of the season. Here there may be enough style for two movies, but barely enough momentum for ten minutes. Will Beall's script puts clichéd lines in the mouths of its characters, which even names like Ryan Gosling or Josh Brolin struggle to deliver while maintaining any credibility. Should it be relegated to a story of antiheroes on a quest for justice? Perhaps. But I don't mind at all that Gangster Squad is ultimately the most worn-out trash, because that's exactly what attracted me to it. What bothers me is that it is nothing else, and in key plot twists it just rehashes bits and pieces from The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, and Public Enemies. (06/04/2013)

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. (05/07/2014)

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. (03/04/2013)

A routine affair, but definitely not a complete disaster. It's surprising that a lot of otherwise excellent and very inventive creators and actors are behind this very average film. I enjoyed the raw fights and the decent gunfights, the ultra-cool Penn and the likeable Brolin, though he is much better on the opposite side of the law, like in American Gangster. It's not nearly as intricate, skillfully written, and technically precise as, for example, Ridley Scott’s film, but it's worth seeing once. Purely average. (31/03/2013)

I can't help but feel like whenever Hollywood tackles serious historical films these days, they often miss the mark. Gangster Squad had everything going for it—a killer cast (and I mean seriously great; every actor here gets under your skin, and that’s rare), plus a solid story with the potential to be truly epic. You could feel it. But then they completely overdid the action. It’s like they cranked it up to 11, with endless shootouts where nobody seems to die, and the action just feels chaotic, with no real structure. The scenes are so poorly staged that it’s hard to follow, and honestly, if this crew were really that reckless, they’d have been wiped out in the first few minutes. It’s a huge shame because I was ready for an awesome gangster flick. If it weren’t for the over-the-top action, we might’ve actually gotten one. (28/12/2013)