L.A. NOIRE THE MOVIE!!!

LETS GO BACK TO A SIMPLER TIME WHEN YOU COULD WHERE A HAT WITHOUT PEOPLE ASSUMING YOU WERE GOING BALD.

The first thing I noticed while watching “Gangster Squad” was Ryan Goslings voice.  I don’t know why the director elected to go this route, but it took me out of the movie two minutes in.  Have you ever seen those comedies where the guy is hit in the “junk” and for the next scene or two he has a high pitch mousy voice?  Now, it wasn’t that bad but it was close.

In 1949 Los Angeles, Sgt. John O’Mara(Josh Brolin) is tasked with bringing down Mickey Cohen who has the majority of the LAPD, the newspapers and most of the high power politicians in his pocket.  O’Mara  creates a group of clichéd honest policemen as his squad.  Mickey Mouse voice, the smart guy who SPOILER ALERT!!! gets killed, the old gunslinger, the one black guy and the Mexican kid round out the off the gangster squad.

The movie doesn’t have a lot of action, but what it does have is violent, although the blood is for the most part CGI.  It’s all about Tommy Guns and shot guns and grenades.  And the story is acceptable although while watching I kept thinking of the movie “The Untouchables”.  In fact it was almost the exact same premise.  Al Capone/Mickey Cohen is a mob boss running a city, Kevin Costner/Josh Brolin play policemen who creates a group to take down the mob boss, each of the movies have the same cast of side characters, predictable characters die and in the end the bad guy goes to jail.

"Why yes, I did just inhale a helium balloon."

Come to think about it, remember the famous scene in “The Untouchable” with the shootout in the train station with the baby stroller falling in slow motion?  Well, there is a very similar scene in “Gangster Squad” where there is a shootout on a grand staircase with slow-mo portions.

Holy Crap.  I just watched a remake of “The Untouchables”.  Son of a gun. Well at least it was $5 day at the local movie theater.

"Get out of our movie!!!"

Oh, and there’s also the girl.  This has me a little baffled.  The female lead(I can’t even remember her name) played by Emma Stone seems somewhat out of place.  I don’t know if she was miscast or too young for the rest of the cast or facial expressions with the huge eyes, but she is just odd for the movie.  I don’t know, you be the judge.

Although, it may seems like I hated this movie, I actually liked it.  It had an enjoyable story, I didn’t hate the characters and it moved at good pace.  I wish it wasn’t  an Untouchables remake but what are you going to do.  I guess there’s only so much you can do with a gangster movie set in the late 1940’s. 

One more thing before I go.  What was up with Sean Penn’s makeup?  I get that he was an ex boxer and his face would be somewhat mangled, but they made him into a Dick Tracy villain.  I have expected Flat Top and Mumbles to come strolling in and during the films finale, I wanted Josh Brolin’s character to show up in a yellow trench coat and hat.

So go see The Untouch…I mean “Gangster Squad” if you like these kind of shoot-them-ups.  Or don’t go see it.  I really don’t care.