GANGSTER SQUAD Not the Noir you are Looking For

About midway through “Gangster Squad” I began humoring the notion that the film might actually be striving for comedy. On the surface the project looks like it wants to be another “L.A. Confidential” with a weighty Noir feel but it definitely is not. And it isn’t as though the plot or characters are particularly funny. But the shoot’em up violence is so outlandish and the internal logic so silly that it must be a joke. If not, then the only other option is that “Gangster Squad” is just a misguided attempt at a modern mobster flick that frequently borders on stupidity.

The All-Star cast should be ready for something meaty. You have Sean Penn slathered in prosthetics as the depraved Mickey Cohen taking chunks out of the scenery and bellowing like a young(er) Al Pacino. There’s the ever-dapper Ryan Gosling, sleeping with the dames with a constant cigarette dangling from his lip. Josh Brolin grounds the movie with a heavy performance that has him carrying over some of his Tommy Lee Jones impersonation from last year’s “Men In Black 3”. These are serious men that are easily taken seriously but there is a serious disconnect between material and presentation.

People are pulled apart. Cops walk up to groups of mobsters and begin spraying bullets, very few of which hit any mark. Hands are cut off during harrowing fights in elevators. There is a scene where two characters stand about 15 feet apart and unleash hundreds of bullets at each other (in slow motion, no less) while not one pierces any flesh. My favorite example of “What the F@ck?” logic: Gosling is conversing at Brolin’s house, formulating their next move. Emma Stone, who has never been to Brolin’s house and would have no reason to know it’s whereabouts, pulls up in a cab, jumps out and says “I’ve been looking all over for you”. Did Miss Stone comb the streets of Los Angeles, driving down every road until she happened upon him? You have got to be joking.

Regardless of tonal intent, “Gangster Squad” is “inspired” by a true story that is very interesting. Cohen was a real-life criminal who ruled the streets of L.A. in the late Forties. Corruption ran deeper than the Los Angeles River so the clean cops were practically powerless. Police Chief Parker (Nick Nolte who can now barely get a word pushed through his shredded vocal cords) decides to put together a secret group of officers to end Cohen’s reign. They leave their badges behind. They are no longer police officers, they are soldiers and this is war. Dun-dun-duuuun!

Now I have to do some more research, but I’m pretty sure that the reason “Gangster Squad” is “Inspired” by a true story is because Cohen was a real man, 1949 is an actual year and Los Angeles is really a city. Most of the rest must be fabrication.

The confusing tone of “Gangster Squad” could probably be blamed on the film’s director Ruben Fleisher. The man has quickly established himself as a mash-up director who smashes genres together with varying success. “Zombieland” was a brilliant Horror-Comedy while his follow up “30 Minutes or Less” suffered from the same disconnect as “Squad” does, blending comedy and balls-out action while not succeeding at either very well.

The design of the film is impressive and gives us pretty glimpses of a Hollywoodland long gone. Stone has the look of a Golden Age Starlet while all of her co-stars are game. Visually the film shifts gears as well as there are inexplicable moments when the camera whirls and spins around in an ultra-modern fashion while the rest of the film is staged rather pedestrianly. Pick a style and stick with it!! You are no Tarantino, Mr. Fleisher, and your ADD sensibility is distracting more than entertaining.