Genre: Crime thriller
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Plot: In 1949 Los Angeles, a group of cops join forces to take down crime boss Mickey Cohen, off the record.
The gist: Based on the talent involved, this one had a lot of potential. The success of this film was surely hampered by the Aurora theater shooting, but partly also because said potential was wasted by the filmmakers.
Director Ruben Fleischer at least does a decent job with the action sequences, the best being the final fight at the film's climax. But he moves the film too fast for the most part, editing heavily on many scenes till the emotional impact and plot continuity gets lost.
It also doesn't help that the script suffers from some pretty bad lines. Sean Penn's Mickey Cohen actually gets to say "Here comes Santa Claus!" right before engaging in a firefight.
I felt that if they put more focus on the relationship between the squad members and less on Ryan Gosling's relationship with Emma Stone, the film would be so much better.
The good: Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling make good leading men, if only they had formed a memorable partnership in the film, that would be awesome. Mireille Enos also deserves mention as Brolin's wife, she was good. Kudos also to costume and set design that made the era look authentic on screen.
The bad: The script, as mentioned. Sean Penn was too over the top as Mickey Cohen (why does he have to kill or beat somebody whenever he gets angry?). Despite all the time spent on Gosling's affair with Stone, it still feels superficial.
Verdict: It's a decent retro crime flick which could have been as good as The Untouchables, but wasted all its potential. (3/5)
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