'Gangster Squad' -- 2 stars

( January 10, 2013 )

R; 1:50 running time

It's based partially on the real-life 1940s square-off between a secret cadre of Los Angeles Police Department officers and their mobster nemeses, led by the notorious Mickey Cohen. In the opening scene, Cohen, played with scowling Neanderthal relish by Sean Penn, oversees the murder of a soon-to-be-ex-associate. We're up in the Hollywood hills, just behind the sign that still reads "Hollywoodland." The man is pulled apart. In half. Maybe it happened in real life, and maybe it didn't, but launching your gangster picture on such a ridiculous note of bloody excess is certainly a risk. A misguided one. -- Michael Phillips

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