Jump to content

Gangster Squad (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 96.248.74.129 (talk) at 22:50, 13 January 2013. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Gangster Squad
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRuben Fleischer
Screenplay byWill Beall
Produced byDan Lin
Kevin McCormick
Michael Tadross
StarringJosh Brolin
Ryan Gosling
Sean Penn
Nick Nolte
Emma Stone
Anthony Mackie
Giovanni Ribisi
Michael Peña
Robert Patrick
CinematographyDion Beebe
Music bySteve Jablonsky
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • January 11, 2013 (2013-01-11)[1]
Running time
113 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75 million
Box office$6,665,000

Gangster Squad is a crime film directed by Ruben Fleischer,[3] from a screenplay written by Will Beall, starring an ensemble cast that includes Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, and Sean Penn.

Based on the story of LAPD officers and detectives forming a group called the "Gangster Squad unit" who attempt to keep Los Angeles safe from Mickey Cohen and his gang during the 1940s and '50s. The film was originally set to be released September 7, 2012,[4] but in the wake of the 2012 Aurora shooting, the film was bumped to a January 11, 2013 release date by Warner Bros. Pictures.[1]

Plot

In post-WWII Los Angeles, gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has become the most powerful figure in the criminal underworld, and intends to continue to expand his criminal enterprise. The police have not been able to stop Cohen's ruthless rise, as witnesses are afraid to testify, and Cohen has bribed many cops and influential political figures to maintain his control.

Determined to put a stop to Cohen, Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte), the head of the Los Angeles Police Department, creates a secret police unit with the sole mission of stopping Cohen. Respected police officer Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is placed in charge of recruiting additional officers. With the help of his wife, Connie (Mireille Enos), he recruits Sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) and detectives Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), Navidad Ramirez (Michael Peña) and Max Kennard (Robert Patrick). Calling themselves the "Gangster Squad", the unit begins the task of destroying Cohen's criminal operations.

The unit's plans go well, and the unit strikes several successful blows at the heart of Cohen's criminal organization and manages to shut down a very lucrative wire gambling business. Cohen believes someone has betrayed him and strikes out at those around him, including his girlfriend Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). Wooters has also been romancing Faraday and tries to help her escape from Cohen and testify against him. Faraday later witnesses Cohen murder Wooters' friend who was helping her escape, and Cohen discovers that the police unit bugged his house, and is able to lure the police unit into a trap in Los Angeles' Chinatown. Soon after, Keeler is killed at the unit's operation. With Faraday willing to testify against Cohen, O'Mara, along with the remaining members of his unit, blackmail a judge to sign an arrest warrant for Cohen, and goes to the Park Plaza Hotel to arrest him.

Cohen and his men engage in a gun battle with the police unit, with Wooters being wounded in the process. Cohen and his bodyguard Karl Lennox (Holt McCallany) escape, but O'Mara pursues them, which results in their vehicle crashing into a fountain. Kennard manages to kill Lennox first before he shoots and kills him. Cohen and O'Mara fight each other in a bare-knuckle boxing fight, while a crowd of onlookers and journalists gather. O'Mara finally beats Cohen, and takes him to prison, ending his reign as a crime boss and the spread of the mafia into the Los Angeles area. Since then, the Gangster Squad was never mentioned in taking down Cohen, as their surviving members remained in secret. Cohen went on to die in prison.

Cast

Production

Filming

Principal photography began on September 6, 2011 in Los Angeles. Sets were located all over L.A. County from north of the San Fernando Valley to south of the county border. Sets were also recreated in Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.[11] Filming wrapped on December 15, 2011.[12]

Association with the 2012 Aurora shooting

The first trailer for Gangster Squad was released on May 9, 2012.[13] In the wake of the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, the trailer was pulled from running before films and airing on television, and removed from Apple's trailer site and YouTube due to a scene in which characters shoot submachine guns at moviegoers through the screen of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[14][15]

It was later reported that the theater scene from the film would be either removed or placed in a different setting, since it is a crucial part of the film, and the film would undergo additional re-shoots of several scenes to accommodate these changes, which resulted in the release of Gangster Squad being moved back to a later date.[4] About a week after the shootings in Aurora, Warner officially confirmed that the film would be released on January 11, 2013, bumped from the original September 7, 2012 release date.[1] Just two weeks later, on August 22nd, the cast reunited in Los Angeles to completely re-shoot the main action sequence of the film. The new scene was placed in a version of Chinatown where the Gangster Squad comes into open conflict with the gangsters as they strike back at the Gangster Squad. Josh Brolin said he was not sad the original 'movie theatre' scene was cut, and admitted that this new version is just as violent.[16][17][18]

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 32% based on reviews from 139 critics, with the site's consensus stating: "Though it's stylish and features a talented cast, Gangster Squad suffers from lackluster writing, underdeveloped characters and an excessive amount of violence".[19] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 40 based on 30 reviews, or "Mixed or Average review." [20]

The reviewers of Spill.com gave it a "Rental," praising the stylish approach but criticizing the dialogue, Emma Stone's under-developed "damsel-in-distress" character, and Sean Penn's laughable makeup. [21] IGN editor Chris Tilly wrote " Gangster Squad looks great but frustrates because with the talent involved, it had the potential to be so much more . " Thus rating the film 6.3 out of 10 . [22]

Jeff Shannon of the Chicago Sun-Times gives the film 2 stars out of 4. He believes that director Fleischer, better known for his comedic work, is out of his element, and barely suppressing his urge to spoof the genre. He notes that Stone and Gosling had chemistry in Crazy, Stupid, Love but that here it "curdles into lukewarm mush". He further criticizes the stock characters, and the generally uneven tone of the film, but praises the action highlights such as the car chase, and occasional flashes of brilliance in the performance of Sean Penn. In conclusion he describes Christian Slater's 1991 film Mobsters as still a marginally better film than Gangster Squad.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c "GANGSTER SQUAD". WarnerBros.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  2. ^ "GANGSTER SQUAD (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
  3. ^ Frappier, Rob. "'Zombieland' Director Tapped for Crime Drama 'The Gangster Squad'". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  4. ^ a b Franich, Darren. "'Gangster Squad: Warner Bros. pushing back release date". InsideMovies.EW.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  5. ^ a b c Vestal, Shannon (2011-04-21). "Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, and Josh Brolin Join the Gangster Squad". BuzzSugar.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  6. ^ Sneider, Jeff (2011-07-26). "Emma Stone in talks to join Gangster Squad". Variety.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  7. ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-08-29). "Nick Nolte Joins 'Gangster Squad'". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  8. ^ Fischer, Russ (2011-06-10). "Anthony Mackie Joins 'Gangster Squad'". /Film. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  9. ^ "Giovanni Ribisi Joins Warner Bros' 'The Gangster Squad'". Deadline.com. 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  10. ^ L. Weinstein, Joshua (2011-06-07). "Michael Pena Joining Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin in 'Gangster Squad'". TheWrap.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  11. ^ Gallagher, Brian (2011-09-06). "The Gangster Squad Begins Production in Los Angeles". MovieWeb.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  12. ^ Fleischer, Ruben (2011-12-15). "Day 71 - That's a Wrap!!!". RubenFleischer.com.
  13. ^ Vespe, Eric (May 9, 2012). "Growling Nick Nolte? Check. Foxy Emma Stone? Check. Tommy Gun Movie Theater shoot out? Check! Gangster Squad trailer hits!". AintItCool.com. Retrieved May 18, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  14. ^ Finke, Nikki. "Warner Bros Pulls Trailer Of Gangster Shooting Up Movie Theater". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  15. ^ Macatee, Rebecca (July 20, 2012). "Gangster Squad Trailer Yanked From Internet, Dark Knight Rises Following Colorado Shooting". E! Online. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  16. ^ Makinen, Julie (2012-07-25). "Warner Bros. moves 'Gangster Squad' to 2013 after shooting". LATimes.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  17. ^ "Warner Bros. postpones 'Gangster Squad' movie after shooting". In.Reuters.com. 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  18. ^ The Associated Press (2012-07-26). "'Gangster Squad' release date pushed back to January after film draws comparisons to 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting in Aurora". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  19. ^ "Gangster Squad (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  20. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/gangster-squad
  21. ^ http://spill.com/Audio/AudioPost.aspx?audioId=1499
  22. ^ http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/09/gangster-squad-review
  23. ^ Jeff Shannon (January 9, 2013). "Gangster Squad".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gangster_Squad_(film)&oldid=532932623"