A few months back, it was widely reported that the upcoming “Gangster Squad” was pushed back from summer 2012 to January 2013 after the Aurora, Col. movie theater shooting rendered the film’s key movie theater massacre sequence too controversial, leading to extensive re-shoots. Although it was never revealed how much of the film was re-shot, Warner Bros. has released a new, revamped trailer to give audiences a peek at the film’s version 2.0.
While there’s nary a frame from the aforementioned theater massacre scene, the new trailer still delivers the gangster-vs.-cops action, with G-man Ryan Gosling facing down the god-like mobster Mickey Cohen (an over-the-top Sean Penn) in 1950s L.A., where co-star Emma Stone’s timeless good looks fit right in.
Surprisingly, Josh Brolin is given short shrift in the new trailer, while the other squad members are virtually ignored. It does, however, give viewers a bigger look at the film’s glossy production design and period details. The temporally incongruous, but driving, Jay-Z track is still played in the clip as well.
“Gangster Squad” is from director Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland,” “30 Minutes or Less”), and also stars Nick Nolte (back in “Mulholland Falls” mode), Anthony Mackie (“Hurt Locker”), Giovanni Ribisi (“Public Enemies”) and Michael Pena, who recently won raves for his performance as a modern-day L.A. cop in “End of Watch.”
In a lot of ways, “Gangster Squad” looks to be a compendium of gangster movies’ greatest hits, but hopefully Fleischer and his ace cast can bring a fresh new spin on overly familiar material.
“Gangster Squad” opens January 11, 2013.
What do you think of the new trailer?