Director Ruben Fleischer took a bite into the glorious world that is early 20th Century gangster movies with Gangster Squad.

Gangster Squad is a gory, action-packed film that is about a group of outlaw police officers who are trying to take down Mickey Cohens crime-filled empire in Los Angeles.

I’ve got to begin with the film’s writing. There were some parts that struck me as cheesy and unrealistic. Yet, there were also some cool gangster-like one liners. It was funny, but it stayed on point throughout the film.

If you ask any lady about Gangster Squad, they’ll probably say, “The one with Ryan Gosling, right?” I feel that Ryan Gosling’s role was overly advertised. While he did really well in the film as Sgt. Jerry Wooters, the trailers made it seem like it was Ryan Gosling versus Sean Penn, which was not the case.

Speaking of Sean Penn, I must also applaud his performance. Sean Penn seems to be a very flexible actor, and you see this in his film “Milk” where he played Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major office; this seems to be the opposite of Penn’s character, Mickey Cohen.

The movie is rated R, so don’t break the law in attempts to see it. I’d give the movie 3.5 stars out of 5. It was a thrill ride to the end, and I suggest that you watch it.