Movie Breakdown: Gangster Squad

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing lead us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling want to kill Sean Penn, who is a really mean gangster in 1940s/50s Los Angeles.  Emma Stone is around because she’s pretty.

The Reality:

If you have a brain, Gangster Squad is a movie with absolutely nothing to offer.  You don’t get to know any of the characters, and the story, which bolts along like it’s trying to get away from itself, is severely lacking in every way possible.  All you hear for two hours is talk about “war” and “progress” and other epic sounding declarations, but the only thing that actually ever happens is that people get shot or punched.  I didn’t think a gangster movie set way back could come off as thoroughly bro-y, but director Ruben Fleischer actually manages to pull it off.  This is not something worth celebrating.

The Lesson:

Sometimes, a movie should have a story.