Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad (2013) slunk unobtrusively through theaters last January, trashed by critics and ignored by audiences. It's easy to see where Ruben Fleischer's crime saga went wrong. A risible swirl of cliches and inept staging, the movie doesn't clear even the dumb action movie benchmark to which it aspires.

Postwar Los Angeles is in thrall to Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), boxer-turned-Mob boss whose sadism frightens even fellow gangsters. Police Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) taps war hero John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) to head an off-the-books team of cops and fight Cohen head-on. O'Mara's chief lieutenant Wooters (Ryan Gosling) is a ladykiller more interested in bedding Cohen's moll Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). The squad uses unorthodox methods, namely kneecapping and wiretapping, to unravel Cohen's scheme of monopolizing LA's gambling rackets. But it's only a matter of time until the crime boss hits back.

Gangster Squad borrows slavishly from The Untouchables, restaging its set pieces without Brian De Palma's slick direction and giddy enthusiasm. When Cohen rants about murdering the heroes (and their families!), we remember Robert De Niro doing it ten times better. Besides De Palma, writer Will Beall lifts key scenes from Dirty Harry (the badge-throwing scene) and Lethal Weapon (O'Mara offering Cohen "a shot at the title"). That's not to mention Mulholland Falls, from which Gangster Squad lifts its plot and setting.

What's left are stock situations that were passe in Al Capone's day. Gangster Squad expends its creativity on marginal bits, like O'Mara's wife (Mireille Enos) helping recruit teammates rather than nag. This is a movie where six heroes with pistols easily vanquish a dozen machine-gun toting villains. Where the diffident Wooters requires a child's death to motivate him. Where Cohen instructs henchmen "You know the drill!" before dispatching a victim with - you guessed it - a miter saw. The lack of irony extends to the premise: Gangster Squad barely questions whether extrajudicial death squads are a good idea.

Fleischer proves equally inept at characterization. O'Mara's team compiles every archetype in the book: the straight arrow leader, roguish sidekick, tech dweeb (Giovanni Ribisi), streetwise black dude (Anthony Mackie), grizzled geezer (Robert Patrick) and his Mexican Man Friday (Michael Pena). Were the Asian martial artist and gay best friend on vacation? Cohen seems to have wandered in from a Bugs Bunny short, while Grace acts and dresses like Jessica Rabbit. Possibly Fleischer took the phrase "live-action cartoon" literally.

For all this, Gangster Squad could still work as popcorn entertainment with decent direction. Sadly, Fleischer opts for the whiz-bang style of Zack Snyder, complete with overdone CGI and swooping slow downs, lingering on spent shell casings and shattering Christmas bulbs. A nighttime car chase is dazzlingly incoherent, while the climactic battle has all the style of a middling first person shooter. Sure the art direction and costumes are neat, but if that's the best you can say about an action flick something's wrong.

Nor does Fleischer do his cast any favors. Josh Brolin emerges unscathed: his bedrock integrity sells O'Mara's inflexible uprightness. On the other hand, Sean Penn goes hog wild in a performance of teeth-gnashing absurdity; even Nick Nolte seems comparably sedate. Ryan Gosling seems lost in a period film; as Gosling's love interest, Emma Stone mainly coasts on their chemistry from Crazy Stupid Love. Other than Robert Patrick's crusty cowpoke, none of the other cops make much impression.

Gangster Squad is loud, graceless and stupid. Even those seeking late night HBO viewing would be well-advised to stick with Transformers, or something of comparable merit.