Should you watch Gangster Squad?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.

Gangster Squad
Film · 2013
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
The sides of Gangster Squad
- Mobster Mickey Cohen ruling Los Angeles in 1949
- A secret squad of cops working off the books
- Tommy guns in fedoras and pinstripes
Gangster Squad is good for you if…
- you like shootouts with tommy guns in Chinatown.
- you like the look of 1940s Los Angeles.
- you like off-the-books cops going to war on Mickey Cohen's mob.
Gangster Squad is bad for you if…
- you can't stand brutal mob violence.
- you'd rather follow morally complicated people than clear heroes and villains.
About: corruption · justice · loyalty
Closest to Gangster Squad
More like this
The Untouchables 1987Good for you if you like Prohibition Chicago, bootleggers and crooked cops.
Gangs of London 2020Good for you if you like long, brutal fight scenes staged like a film.
Heat 1995Good for you if you like two men who respect each other and must collide.
Tokyo Vice 2022Good for you if you like the yakuza underworld seen from a crime reporter's desk.
L.A. Confidential 1997Good for you if you like a conspiracy that only fits together in the last act.
The Dark Knight 2008Good for you if you like a villain you can't take your eyes off.