Los Angeles in 1949 and Mickey Cohen has the run of the city. Sergent John O’Mara has other ideas about this and gets together a group of police who take a stand against the mobster in order to make the city a better place.
First thing to stay about this film is that they really managed to give it some style! All of the characters look cool, you cannot help but love the 40s and the hat and suit combos that men used to wear. It really does add the extra edge and that is what you think of when you think of Gangster’s so it really does just work from the very start.
Sean Penn puts in a brilliant performance as Mickey Cohen and really is evil and the fact that he has a different nose makes you think is that really Penn throughout the film. (Well I was thinking that anyway, as it really is a big change to his normal face). Probably a bit of a random comment to make but if you have seen this film you will understand what I mean.
Josh Brolin is John O’Mara and makes it his business to get a group of police together and become their own gangster squad in order to bring Cohen down. This creates for some brilliant scenes which will get you on the edge of your seat as they almost get caught and really push the levels on what police were actually allowed to do. But that is how passionate he became in standing up for his city.
Ryan Gosling has fast become one of my favorite actors and I enjoyed his performance in this film even with his rather high voice. But it worked for the character and gave him an added edge as he eventually decided to get involved in the squad! Jerry has his own agenda though as he is also seeing Cohen’s “girl” so that gives the story another edge and twist.
The film really does have a bit of everything as we get the romance and action, along with a few funny lines and moments to take the very serious edge off which could have happened. So I am sure everyone will find something that they like about this film, especially with the high quality actors who put in brilliant performances from start to finish. After watching this on TV last week it made me regret missing this one at the cinema earlier this year, so pleased to have caught up with it.
