Gangster Squad (2013)

The story of the release of Gangster Squad is reflective of the selective morality of Hollywood.  Originally planned to be released in August of 2012, it was canned due to the Aurora Movie Theater Massacre.  This was because Gangster Squad originally had a scene with a similar movie theater massacre.  However, although there is a scene in this flick that recalls the Newtown Massacre, that mattered not to those in Hollywood who make releasing decisions.  In any event, the real significance of this movie is not whether of not this movie resembles any real life atrocities, it is the fact that it is in itself an atrocity against good film making.

Gangster Squad is a bizarre mixture of slapstick and violence.  For instance, there is the confusing car chase/gun battle.  The bad guys are armed to the teeth with handguns, sub-machine guns and German hand grenades from the Second World War.  They also have seemingly unlimited ammunition.  The good guys had only handguns and very limited ammunition.  As you would expect from a bad movie such as this, the bad guys are all slain, while hardly any of the good guys suffer even so much as a scratch.

There are some fundamental flaws to Gangster Squad.  For one thing, many of the action sequences are confusing.  Much of the movie is stupid and seems amateurishly put together.  Most importantly, there is no evidence that the Los Angeles Police Department ever had a vigilante squad that enforced the laws while breaking them in wholesale fashion.  This movie would have you believe that the legendary chief of police, Bill Parker, who was known for his strict by the books approach and his unflinching honesty, would ever stoop to this level.  The series of newspaper articles that this movie was based on, has been widely criticized for its journalistic shoddiness.

All in all, Gangster Squad is a mess.  It takes a story that is almost certainly made up and tells it in an  incoherent fashion.  It is littered with all sorts of cliches and  many of its best lines are ripped off from other, better films. This is a movie that needs to be avoided like the plague.