( CNN ) -- After the Denver shootings during a showing of `` Dark Knight Rises , '' Warner Bros. swiftly withdrew the trailer of `` Gangster Squad '' from before the Nolan film and reportedly removed a sequence in which gangsters shoot up a movie theater from behind the screen . Now `` Gangster Squad '' emerges just a month after the Newtown killings , a titillating but anodyne piece of gun glamour for the masses . Inspired by Paul Lieberman 's series for the Los Angeles Times , `` Tales from the Gangster Squad , '' the movie ducks the obvious comparisons with `` LA Confidential , '' `` Mulholland Falls '' and `` Bugsy '' by opting for a pulpy vibe and poppy , comic book visuals . This is no `` Chinatown '' exercise in history as neo-noir , and it 's sure no James Ellroy-style take down of the LAPD ( the controversial 1950s Police Chief William Parker -- played by Nick Nolte - gets a free pass for instigating what amounts to a vigilante hit-squad operating beyond any legal jurisdiction ) . Rather it 's a gleaming , glossy parade of good-looking actors trading quips and striking poses in sexy period duds , only a couple of stops more naturalistic than `` Sin City '' or `` Dick Tracy . '' And it 's Beatty 's film that comes to mind most immediately , with Sean Penn channeling a snarling Al Pacino ( and showing off a striking prosthetic nose ) as ambitious LA racketeer Mickey Cohen , an all purpose bad guy who orders a Chicago rival to be chained to two autos and ripped in half in the film 's first minute . Within another 60 seconds Josh Brolin 's square-jawed Sgt . O'Mara has established his impeccable heroic credentials by crashing one of Cohen 's brothels , shooting or beating up five of his henchmen and rescuing an innocent dame from a fate worse than death -- all to the consternation of his immediate superiors , but impressing the heck out of Chief Parker . `` Do n't make arrests , '' Parker growls . `` This is occupied territory . Wage guerrilla warfare . '' For a spell the movie corrects to an engagingly fizzy tone . O'Mara 's shrewd and pregnant wife ( the excellent Mireille Enos ) handpicks his squad . There 's a sharpshooter nicknamed `` Cowboy '' she read about in True Detective magazine ( Robert Patrick ) ; a brainiac who knows how to set up a wiretap ( Giovanni Ribisi ) . Anachronistically , for Parker 's LAPD , there 's also an African-American who is handy with a knife ( Anthony Mackie ) and a Latino who muscles in on the action ( Michael Pena ) . Their first intervention is deliciously botched . And then they 're faced with getting out of Burbank alive . For all its historical liberties , the movie does have fun re-creating mid-century Los Angeles . Last to sign up is Ryan Gosling 's Sgt . Jerry Wooters , an easygoing womanizer who happens to be sleeping with Mickey Cohen 's girl ( Emma Stone doing a very passable Bacall ) , and whose less rigid approach to the job is meant to color our admiration for O'Mara 's righteousness . But the more seriously `` Zombieland '' director Ruben Fleischer takes the material , the more vapid it comes off . Some glaring gaps in third act story logic do n't help , but the whole Gosling and Brolin dynamic never really snaps into place . Are they old war buddies ? You can believe Brolin has seen some action , but Gosling just comes off as wet behind the ears -- there 's no rapport between them , and no real reason to care when things go sour . `` Gangster Squad '' looks the part , but it 's so superficial it practically evaporates before our eyes .
Josh Brolin , Sean Penn , Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone star in ` ` Gangster . '' The film is inspired by Paul Lieberman 's article for the Los Angeles Times . Critic ##izes Brolin , Gosling buddy , never snaps into place .