Smokin' Aces

The movies that are always the most difficult to review are the ones that are not bad, but that still has something missing to them. "Smokin' Aces" is definitely like that. While it's not a bad movie, it's still far from as good as it could have been.

I think the movie started out pretty well. It's got an almost "Lock Stock"-like quality to it where it presents all the main characters in different sequences. After that you feel the stage is set and the guns loaded. Unfortunately then you get the first dip in pace, and the movie never really recovers. Sure, you get a few laughs and some pretty well-done action scenes. But the pace really never picks up and lives up to the promise of the beginnings.

It's difficult for me to put my finger on why i didn't really like this movie. Like i said before it's not bad and it was fairly entertaining. Perhaps my expectations were wrong? I expected something more fast-paced and hysterical, while this is a lot more sombre in pace. The good points are the actors, not that they're great but most of them are pretty good in their parts and many of them are quite funny. Also the action scenes are pretty well done. The negative parts is that i would have liked more action, a quicker pace and a lot less bewildering ending (without giving anything away).

I think most people who like action movies might like this one. It works pretty well, although there are quite a lot of things to improve. I give it a 6/10.

Buddy "Aces" Israel is in trouble. A Vegas entertainer once, he got to know the local mob and was taken by the lifestyle to the point that he began his own crew. Unfortunately for him and everyone he knows, it has caught up with him and he now finds himself targeted by all sides and in the hands of the FBI, desperately trying to make a deal with them from the security of the penthouse floor of a luxury hotel. However the FBI pick up wind of a hit called in by Sparazza with a strict time limit, a $1,000,000 bounty and cut out Buddy's heart. It is not long before a handful of bounty hunters are heading towards the hotel with one aim – to be the first.

On a transatlantic flight during the day I had time for one more film before landing. As I was just trying to relax I was looking for undemanding stuff just to distract and entertain me. The film I watched first was Shooter and I mention this deliberately. Shooter was only an OK film but what it did was lay out its stall and make it very clear what it was going to do and how it was going to do it – not necessarily in terms of plotting but more in terms of style and approach. It wasn't great but it worked. I assumed that Smokin' Aces would do the same as the trailer made it look like a comic hit-man film – with hyper filming, lots of stars and lots of action.

Now, if you're thinking that I shouldn't assume then you're right, but this is how the film starts and it is how it is at various stages across the film. However it goes from being a bit like Guy Richie (freeze frames, names on screen etc) to being an all out action fest, with guns everywhere and people surviving the way that they only do in action films. The suddenly in the final third it decides that it not going to be superficially comic or superficially action-packed and suddenly seemed to have an emotional side and expected me to care about the characters and their plights – like it had been a serious drama all along (although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take the ADD kid with the erection in that context).

In doing this it does still do just about enough to keep a story going but to be honest I started to get bored as it changed tone based on whatever it want to do. Another problem I had with it was the violence – it was very brutal throughout, which I don't have a problem with but the mixed tone meant it was confused. With the comic feel the violent death of characters is really jarring, likewise with the action section – it just seemed too much and made it hard to enjoy. The final turn of tone actually makes the violence work because the extent of it works when you actually are expected to feel it – however by then it was too little too late.

Keeping this in mind it is no surprise that nobody is really that good. Piven goes from ham to tragic figure; it is a nice try but the film doesn't go with him and he is left exposed. Reynolds is reasonably good on the level he works on, a good presence – I've never seen him in anything that good but I generally like him when I see him. Affleck, Berg, Garcia, Liotta and a few others are solid enough but not anything special. Keys is good-looking but she is helped by Henson who is sassy and cute at the same time. The real stand out for me was Common. He dropped out of a big tour to make this and I felt bad that he seemed to be going down the "rapper goes to Hollywood to be in action movie" path. However he is actually one of the few who impressed me; not throughout the film perhaps but in the one scene he has with Piven in the bathroom I did think that he showed potential to do more than just be in this sort of thing. Time will tell if he can move away form just being a good looking guy with a deep voice, but he did seem in touch with his character here.

Overall though, the film is nothing to write home about. With an inconsistent approach that sees approach markedly changed abruptly not once but twice, the film is hard to stick with. It probably offers enough noise and narrative to please those looking for noise and violence but personally I was disappointed and found it hard to care that much about.

Smoking Aces is a film that tries hard, and in doing so is one that is not going to be easy to describe. The basic plot revolves around the central character "Aces" who is testifying against the mob, and in return has a contract out on his head. Locked away in his suite in Las Vegas, he is protected by the Fed, but there are multiple contract killers (all different from each as can be imagined!) out to get him.

First hour seems to be stuck piecing the different contract killers together and their background, whilst the Fed are shown to be trying to figure out what is going on. No one set of actors though gets above the others, and in doing so you have multiple stories in the film tied into the whole premise of the film. Acting is great by the general assemble which includes fine performances by Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta.

Problematically, the film tries to be too cool at the start, and reminds me too much of "Things to do in Denver...." and so on. In addition, the film is really confusing at points but is worth persevering with nevertheless. The complexity makes it very original, and you never know where its going, but it wraps up together in the last 30mins which are more than worth the cinema ticket alone.

No classic, but enjoyable, original and interesting overall..

Smokin' Aces was most certainly a bit of a magic show within itself, in that while you watched the evident plot go one way, you didn't notice the actual plot until BAM! it came out of nowhere. It wasn't the most coherent of plots sometimes, but for the most part it all wraps up in the end.

As far as greatness goes, this won't be up there winning awards. Rather, it might be remembered fondly as "that cool movie I saw a while ago." Good drama, good action. Ryan Reynolds breaks out in a truly serious and compelling role.

Definitely a movie worth viewing.

Here's another addition to anyone's list of definitive "guy flicks". Compared to testosterone treats like Jason Statham's pair of Transporter stints, this one offers a more complicated plot, fewer explosions and chases, but more gruesome killings. Plus some fine touches of grim humor, and a dash of eye candy. It comes from the fertile, if demented, mind of Joe Carnahan, who struck first with the cheapie hit Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, before upgrading to studio-quality crime drama in Narc. Arguably, he's the US doppelganger for England's Guy Ritchie (Lox, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch - both also featuring Statham), since he's less arty and cinematically historical about showcasing mayhem than Quentin Tarantino.

Jeremy Piven plays a Las Vegas lounge star and gangster wannabe, who first endears himself to the Mob, runs afoul of the local Capo, then offers his testimony to the FBI in exchange for protection and profit. When the Mafiosi put a $1M price-tag on his head, hordes of hit persons (solos and teams, male and female, foreign and domestic; the EEOC would be more than satisfied with this field's diversity), some hired, others freelance, converge on the casino penthouse in Lake Tahoe where their quarry is "hiding", while his agent (gifted, yet underemployed, Curtis Armstrong) negotiates terms with the Feds.

The deep cast includes Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman, Alicia Keys, and plenty of other familiar faces. Carnahan careens among multiple arenas of plotting, with FBI briefings filling in the audience and their agents on some of the players they're about to face, building to the inevitable chaos of competing factions converging on Piven and his legion of bodyguards, in what promises to be a dazzling display of carnage and comedy. The reality comes pretty close, with a couple of cool surprises along the way.

Unfortunately, Carnahan, like a certain US President who comes to mind, crafted his superb attack without a viable exit strategy. After the cosmic convergence, there's more exposition and anticlimactic wind-down than anyone needed, or the preceding frenzy deserved.

Enjoy the movie, fellas. But for those who wait (or double-dip), expect the DVD's extras to include at least one alternate ending, and several bloody and/or sexy deleted scenes that were axed for optimal running time, rather than lack of titillation.