Fire enough bullets and eventually the target gets hit.  That’s more or less true for “The Gangster Squad”.  It’s not bad, but it could be better.

In the 1940’s Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) controls the city of Los Angeles with an iron fist, using murder and strong illegal businesses to help him rise to power. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) is put in charge of putting together a group to end this intense corruption. Soon, he’s got some of the best men in L.A. working for him, including Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) and Conwell Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi).

“The Gangster Squad” harkens back to a more frivolous time in Hollywood, fitting it’s 1940’s time period to a T. Thankfully, they utilize the time period as much as possible, with the costumes, automobiles and music of the era all becoming pivotal to the movie. Using this kind of time period is a refreshing change of pace from the majority of Hollywoods action flicks and helps establish a unique identity.

The cast is a bit more hit and miss. Josh Brolin does fine, though he doesn’t show much range in the film. Once you adjust to his voice, Ryan Gosling is pretty good as well, though he’s obviously capable of so much more than we witness in this movie. Emma Stone, as part of the films obligatory romantic subplot, does nicely, conveying a history of turmoil hidden in her past throughout the film. Sean Penn, however, way overacts, robbing the film of it’s dramatic tension in the finale. Some of his dialogue is already pretty iffy, but his hammy delivery and acting doesn’t help matters.

Director Ruben Fleisher, who previously directed the comedies “Zombieland” and “30 Minutes or Less”, seems a bit out of his element here. Kudos for trying to do something different, but he does feel like he himself is a bit at odds with the true nature of the project. At least the majority of the action scenes are staged well, though some overuse of slo-mo feels completely unnecessary.

“The Gangster Squad” is a movie that has some missed opportunities, but overall does fine, if unspectacular. Certainly with a cast of this caliber you expect something truly noteworthy, but they’re hampered by a weak script and some clumsy directing. Still, there are much worse movies out there and it’s a quite a bit better than what you’ve probably heard. Still filled with gorgeous sets and some fine actors, “The Gangster Squad” fares alright.