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Gangster Squad (15)

Gangster Squad (15)

Action, Crime, Drama

A chronicle of the LAPD's fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s.


The critical consensus

This is sloppy filmmaking, and we don’t like failure in this outfit. Sure, I know how it is. These things happen. Now pass me the knuckledusters.

**(*)(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 06/01/2013

The film feels like it’s content merely to imitate and comes across as far inferior to Brian De Palma's masterpiece. Fleischer, though, just about gets away with it thanks to his cast, who work hard to compensate for such shortcomings.

***(*)(*)Rob Carnevale, The List, 09/01/2013

For all the guns and gore, it's as breezy and uncritical as a tale from the True Detective magazine that the cops can't help reading.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 10/01/2013

With a cast including Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte, star wattage ought to be this flick’s strength, the director doesn’t know how to harness what he’s got.

**(*)(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 10/01/2013

This is elegantly diverting entertainment with a handsome cast who effortlessly inhabit their stylish period tailorings.

***(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 10/01/2013

If it sounds a bit like The Untouchables then that's fine by Gangster Squad, which sets no great store by freshness or nuance.

**(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 10/01/2013

Only Penn, who gets to work out a lot of anger management issues, really looks as if he is having fun.

**(*)(*)(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 10/01/2013

Sean Penn’s not been this fun since Jeff Spicoli and there’s plenty of rip-roaring action, but Gangster Squad proves a minor entry in the annals of LA noir.

***(*)(*)Nick de Semlyen, Empire Online, 11/01/2013

There's not a scintilla of reality or innovation in the whole live-action cartoon, but it is possible to admire the gusto with which its director, Ruben Fleischer, shovels on the clichés. Not even Mickey Cohen is as gleefully blatant about his thieving as Gangster Squad is.

Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday, 13/01/2013

There are a few good lines here and there...but the story has little connection to reality.

Philip French, The Observer, 13/01/2013

Though comparable to The Untouchables, Gangster Squad isn’t in the same league. Fun in a cartoonish way, yes, but the cast and potential are so wasted that you’ll come out with a strong desire to re-watch Brian De Palma’s classic. Or L.A. Confidential. Maybe even Mulholland Falls…

**(*)(*)(*)Stephen Carty, Flix Capacitor, 09/01/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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