Gangster Squad (2013, dir. Ruben Fleischer) **.5/****

Gangster Squad is like a big glossy present with all the bells and whistles but in the end it doesn't amount to something with much soul or lasting impression.  It has great period detail and a stellar cast but you are left with a sense of let-down and longing for something more.  Sean Penn is Mickey Cohen a ruthless gangster who runs the city of L.A. in 1949.  A group of rogue cops get together and form the "gangster squad" of the title trying to bring him and his empire down.  There is a lot of violence and gunplay in this film but it offers nothing new or revelatory.  It just doesn't have very much depth to it and is all spectacle.  Its an adequate film but could never be considered great.