Josh Brolin Joins ‘Gangster Squad’

Josh Brolin Joins ‘Gangster Squad’

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

The combo of Warner Bros. and the gangster genre almost always yields classic cinema. From the golden age up to today, the studio has always excelled in bringing crime stories to the screen, and with a fine cast secure for the upcoming “Gangster Squad,” we’re betting that they’ll be giving yet another satisfying film for fans of underworld entertainment.

The movie has already got two strong leads in Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling, and Deadline now reports that Josh Brolin has joined the cast as well, taking on the role of a police officer tasked with bringing the notorious Mickey Cohen—played by Penn—to justice.

A relative late-bloomer in regards to overall stardom, Josh Brolin has proven to audiences that he’s a capable actor who can play laconic (“No Country for Old Men”), intimidating (“American Gangster”) and just plain goofy (“W.”). While he’d be more likely to deliver an electrifying performance as a criminal, we could definitely see him playing a convincing cop. He’s embodies the perfect degree of old-school masculinity to pull off that kind of role.

With a terrific cast put together, we’re still wondering how the film’s director will fare. Helming the project is Ruben Fleischer, best known to movie audiences as the man behind “Zombieland.” He’ll (hopefully) be adopting a considerably different tone for this movie, and seeing as he has yet to work in this genre, we’re wondering what he has in store for us.

Then again, few people thought that Ben Affleck had any directorial ability at all, but he has turned out to be one of the strongest crime directors working today. Fleischer is undoubtedly talented; we don’t expect him to be the next Scorsese, but we do anticipate that he’ll deliver the goods.