“Huh. Only one movie worth going to this week. And if its release hadn’t been pushed back, it’d have been that rare movieless weekend for me. Oh heavens forfend!
I’m not too sure how I feel about this one. The vibe was kinda awesome. I loved the highly polished look and the snazzy threads and most of all the slang of the time. I absolutely could not get enough of their quicktalking soundbites that sounded like they were written by the Joss Whedon fo the late 40s. For the first third, I was enthralled with all of that. But then, I just got bored. Once our team was assembled and things started to play out in montage and the conspiring was drowning in details. There were moments of levity and a few minor shockers (usually after waves of predictability) that brought me back in.
There were some bits of awesome on the cast side of things. I hadn’t realized how much I really do like Josh Brolin, but he carried the film with such a suave but tough grace. It was also a treat to see Giovanni Ribisi as a good guy again after he’s been playing a string of questionable characters. Emma Stone, gorgeous and just as tough as any of the guys. Kinda on the fence about Ryan Gosling. I adore the man, but the characterization with the voice was a bit distracting. Similar mixed feelings on Sean Penn. It felt like he was trying to chew scenery, but not with quite the gusto that one normally would. He was kinda stuck in a charicature of a mob boss. He certainly had the presence to pull it off but it lacked substance.
I did spend a good while trying to figure out which scene was the new footage that replaced the theater shootout. I think I guessed it.
I really dont know how much more I have to say on the subject. I wavered back and forth about how I was rating this, when I realized that’s exactly what half points are for.
Gangster Squad – \m/ \m/ \n