Smokin' Aces... a twisty, turny bloodbath!

Cafe Society
1

Today Smokin’ Aces opened, the new action movie from the writer/director of Narc, Joe Carnahan. I just came back from it, and while I can’t rave that it’s one of the best movies ever, I definitely had fun while I was watching it. It’s extremely over-the-top in its violence, full of depraved characters and bad language and witty conversation: the lovechild of Elmore Leonard, Quentin Tarantino, and Guy Ritchie. If you like books or movies by any of those guys, Smokin’ Aces is made for you.

I won’t even come close to spoiling the looping plot, since you got pretty much everything you need to know from the trailer and TV spots: a Vegas entertainer named Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven) is holed up in a Lake Tahoe penthouse suite, getting ready to testify against the mob for the FBI, and a host of hitmen and other unsavory types are all descending on the hotel, hoping to take out Israel and collect the million-dollar price on his head.

The cast is quite good: Ben Affleck as a bail bondsman, Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds as FBI agents with Andy Garcia as their boss, rapper Common as Israel’s bodyguard (doing his best Samuel L. Jackson “smooth badass” impression), Jason Bateman as a pervy lawyer, and R&B singer Alicia Keys as a hitwoman. You’ll recognize a few other faces, but Reynolds, best known for playing a charismatic wiseguy in goofy comedies like Van Wilder, was excellent as a serious and competent FBI agent. Common and Keys, both better known for their music, were quite good in their roles. I wish Piven had been given more to do since he usually steals scenes, but he played the strung-out snitch role perfectly. Also, you’ll be introduced to characters called the Tremor Brothers, and you will either be scared, repulsed, or wish they had a spinoff film/video game/comic book series.

It’s violent, especially the aforementioned Tremor Brothers. Lots of gunplay, lots of blood, lots of bodies. Nothing overly gory or sadistic like a Hostel or Saw, but don’t bring kids or squeamish dates. If your DVD shelf includes Pulp Fiction, Hard Boiled, True Romance, Jackie Brown, Leon The Professional, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Usual Suspects, Out of Sight, Desperado, Boondock Saints, Lucky Number Slevin, Sin City, The Transporter, or any other classics of ‘90s-style action/crime/noir cinema, then you are the target audience for Smokin’ Aces.

2

Cool. The reviews seemed to indicate that I would like this movie. Nothing serious or meaningful, just good, mindless violence and action. Glad to see I was correct. Off to the movies tomorrow, since the wife is out of town and I am bored.

3

Indeed, it was a mix of Usual Suspects (kinda) Kill Bill, and Ocean’s Eleven.

Common really was quite good… and yes the Tremor Brothers were iconically fun.

4

I saw it last night. It was a fun violent movie with a weird twist at the end.

5

You missed the most important detail: Boobies?

6

Sorry to rain on the parade - it was a waste of my £6.50 (USD$13) and 2 hours.

Incoherent, chaotic, pointless. No class at all. Waste of celluloid.

Nuff Said

Si

7

A few, in passing. But Alicia Keys is smokin’ hot – she’s more than just a pretty voice.

8

I saw it recently, and I have to agree. I was so excited to see this movie. I love the actors (Piven, Liotta, and Bateman especially), and it seemed like the kind of movie I’d enjoy.

I was severly disappointed. The acting was good (Piven was excellent, and I was nicely surprised by Common and Ryan Reynolds), but the story was hackneyed, the pacing was awful, and the “twists” were noticable from 1,000 feet away. The action sequences were mediocre at best (too many cuts, mixing up of the angles and shots ruined cohesiveness, and too over the top). There were a couple of good scenes (Piven and Common’s talk in the bathroom was one), but there was some godawful ones too (the ADHD kid, the surveillance, and the flashbacks). And the characters were so one-dimensional it was sad.

Somewhere in there is a great movie that struggled to get out, but was buried underneath all the crap. It was a shame.

9

I think it had the potential to be good, but it missed.

It had a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels vibe which I liked but they never pulled the movie together at the end.

10

It could have been better, but I rather liked it. Good violence, good humor, good characters, good performances. Some of the twists were expected, but some weren’t, and it all could have been tied together a little better. If you like this type of movie, I think you’ll be pleased.

11

It wanted to be two movies.

Movie A was a character driven drama, centered around Ryan Reynold’s character and the intrigues and twists.

Movie B was Jeremy Piven acting like a sarcastic asshole at the epicenter of a plethora of colorful assassin characters out to kill him.

Both of those movies would be good.

Unfortunately, we get about 2/3rds of Movie A and 1/3rd of Movie B. Certainly, one could blend those two great tastes together - but this was no Reese’s. If it were, it would be like a Reese’s with about a nickel-sized lump of peanut butter inside. Sure, it still tastes good, but it’s a little disappointing.

To add insult to injury, the ads focus on Movie B.

I liked it, but it had so much wasted potential.

12

I was with it all the way up to “reveal” at the end… That was so f-ing terrible. I wanted to stab the screen and my own ears at Garcia’s in and out southern accent.

Alicia Keyes is goddamn gorgeous and was quite good in the movie.

For the ending If the reason they needed to save the old mob boss was that he was the former FBI guy but hadn’t turned against the Bureau but had taken La Cosa Nostra over to run it into the ground the ending would have been pretty interesting. They established that the FBI had been winning against the mob for years and slowly taking it apart. The reveal could have been that he had been feeding them information for decades now and had helped them widdle it down to his group which he could now hand over completely. With the exception of course being Bobby Israel’s rogue faction. This could have actually set the whole plot in motion without an assine heart transplant bullshit ending. The stry also gained nothing from having two of the bad badguy assassins survive (the mustache and the mask guys)

The scenes with the ex-cop survivor and the hyper karate kid were just bizarre and WTF? inducing.

Jason Bateman’s WTF scenes were worth the price of admission though.