Trailer Trashin’: Gangster Squad Looks to Deliver Stylish Period Crime Drama

After last week’s double-dose of superhero goodness, it’s time for something completely different. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at director Ruben Fleischer’s cops-and-crooks film Gangster Squad.

Premise: A vigilante police force within the LAPD fights to keep the East Coast Mafia, led by Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s.

My take: We seem to be going through a mini-resurgence of things in popular culture based on real-life crime stories from the first half of the 20^th century. Last year saw the video game L.A. Noire from Team Bondi and Rockstar Games. Frank Darabont is currently developing a series called L.A. Noir (unrelated to the game) for TNT. John Hillcoat’s film Lawless is coming out at the end of August. And in September, we’ll be getting Gangster Squad, which I think looks like a lot of fun.

If nothing else, this film has one hell of a cast. When I saw Drive last year, Ryan Gosling shot onto my radar in a big way, so I’m interested to see what he does with what appears to be a more conventional hero role. Emma Stone is incredibly beautiful as usual, but I really hope her character has more to do than just be “the girl.” Sean Penn, who seems to have finally lightened up a bit in recent years, looks like he’s really enjoying himself, and I’m anticipating some scenery-chewing from him. From what I see here, Josh Brolin looks like a good choice for the leader of the vigilante cops. I liked Giovanni Ribisi a lot in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) and Avatar (2009), so it was a pleasant surprise to see him in this. Nick Nolte looks like a good fit for the part of the chief, although I think he’s overdoing the gruff, gravely voice. I’m interested to see what the rest of the cast gets to do, particularly Robert Patrick and Frank Grillo, neither of whom I spotted in this trailer.

Aside from the great cast, the thing that interests me the most is the involvement of director Ruben Fleischer. Zombieland (2009), which was Fleischer’s first feature film, is one of my favorite comedies of the last decade. Since both of his previous films were comedies (see also 2011’s 30 Minutes or Less), I’m interested to see how he fares in the very different genre of crime dramas. Based on this first trailer, he seems to be handling himself pretty well.

On that note, I really like the action scenes we see here. It’s always cool to see Thompson sub-machine guns in movies, and there’s going to be plenty of them here. Also, what’s better than a car chase? A car chase with vintage automobiles, that’s what. And I have to gush about the last big action beat of the trailer, with the ambush inside the movie theater. The guys standing behind the projection screen and firing through it is just such a cool image.

So far, this looks like a slick, stylish, entertaining period crime drama. However, I haven’t yet seen anything that makes this a “must-see.” The movie looks like it could be a lot of fun, and I hope it turns out well, but I’m going to need to see more trailers. But in the meantime, I’m pulling for Gangster Squad, and I really hope it lives up to its potential.

ANTICIPATION: My interest is piqued, but I need to see more of it before making a decision.

Release Date: September 7th, 2012

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Josh Pence, Frank Grillo, Mireille Enos, Michael Peña, Nick Nolte, James Hébert, and James Carpinello
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Will Beall