When you pick actors as good as all of these that were picked here, no matter the decency of the movie, you get a winning formula. I like mob stories, mafia movies and crime thrillers, so this was a match made in heaven for me. Both the protagonists and the antagonist were acting amazing, the story was pretty decent, the action was great, the style of the movie was retro and original at the same time. I think that this movie deserves at least a 7/10.

This is an excellent movie, lots of action, non-stop, charming or sinister by turns. I've read most of the book too. The book was the actual history and, while the characters in the movie have names of real people in a real time and indeed are true to the characters of that time, the movie itself is no more history than The Godfather was a history. It doesn't matter. The movie was so good I happily read the book when I came across it and re-visited the movie again after I'd read it. If you like gangster movies this is a gem.

I'm not sure what to think of 'Gangster Squad' to be honest. On one hand I was impressed with the production, particularly the action scenes which were enjoyable and very well made. Set in 1940s LA, the attention to detail was meticulous, from the cars to the clothes and even the wallpaper and furniture.On the other hand, I thought it was dull and repetitive. There's nothing special about 'Gangster Squad' that makes it stand out from other gangster movies, it's too generic. That said, I thought the cast did a decent enough job at making it somewhat interesting, especially Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen.Overall, 'Gangster Squad' isn't a bad movie, but it's not a particularly good one either. I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but largely thanks to the action scenes which only account for a fraction of the running time.

Gangster Squad was one of the biggest let downs I've experienced at the movie theaters. With the names: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Michael Peña, and Giovanni Ribisi attached to this project I assumed that this film would be a huge hit. But do you know the saying about assumptions? The film is based on the story of Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), an east coast gangster who brought organized crime out west to LA, and John O'Mara (Josh Brolin), a cop hired to assemble a team to take down Cohen by any means possible. This included using violence without punishment from the law. This premise bodes well for a good gangster flick but doesn't deliver on any front.The acting was fairly bad, the plot was unoriginal, the dialogue poor, and the directing terrible. There were only a few scenes in the film that I actually enjoyed, but most of the time I was either cringing in my seat or stifling a laugh. Gangster Squad had its release pushed back because of the movie theater shootings at the Dark Knight Rises. They had to do extensive re-shoots because a scene in the movie depicted gunmen coming out blazing from behind a theater screen shooting into the crowd. Rumors stated that removing this scene was like pulling a thread from a sweater. But regardless of what the movie could of been it ultimately was a flop.