If Los Angeles is a damsel in distress, Ryan Gosling's just the man to come to the rescue.
The Hollywood heartthrob is taking his six-pack to the City of Angels, circa 1949, in Gangster Squad, directed by Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer and due out Sept. 7.
And judging by the trailer for this L.A. Confidential–inspired flick that's officially hit the Web, Gosling's got his work cut out for him, especially when he beds a femme fatale as devilishly beautiful as the one portrayed by Emma Stone.
1. Dire Straits: Nick Nolte plays Chief Bill Parker who tasks Josh Brolin's Sgt. John O'Mara to get a squad of LAPD's best and brightest together because they have some cleaning up to do. A notorious Mob kingpin has overrun L.A. and built an illicit empire that's sparked a crime wave. "Los Angeles is a damsel in distress," intones Nolte darkly. Luckily, he's got the right men for the job.
2. Meet the Crime Fighters: Gosling takes on the role of detective Jerry Wooters, who teams up with Brolin to launch a war against the godfather in question, Mickey Cohen, played with merciless relish by Sean Penn. "It doesn't seem right that he should have so much and we should have so little," Gosling tells his new partner. You get the feeling things are gonna get nasty?
3. The West Coast's Answer to Al Capone: With a prosthetic nose, Penn's in full scene-chewing mode here—a la good buddy Robert De Niro in The Untouchables. "Ever heard of Manifest Destiny?" he asks. "That's when you take what you can when you can."
4. The Real Damsel: After launching their war against the Mafia, Wooters strikes up an affair with Cohen's hot, young redhead of a girlfriend, Grace Faraday, aka Stone. "You gonna take me away from all this?" she coos. "No, ma'am. I was just hoping take you to bed," Gosling replies. Smooth as silk. Cue the hip-hop track for what is certainly not going to be the traditional gangster caper.
5. Action Aplenty: Gosling and Brolin's Gangster Squad are ready to kick butt first and take names later as the teaser offers up the usual spray of machine-gun shoot-outs, explosions and upended cars. It's gonna be a wild ride, indeed.