Smokin' Aces (2006) User Reviews

A fun film with a story

[alexdelliott · 8/10 · 24 July 2011]

If you haven't seen this film id better point out (which many people have missed in their reviews or ignored) is that this film is a comedy, it is not in any way meant to be taken seriously.

With that in mind it is a thoroughly entertaining movie. There is a plot about around 5 different flavors of assassins and hit men competing for a $1m contract on an FBI informer Buddy "Aces" Israel, a sure recipe for carnage. There is a deeper plot than that but i wont go into detail as it will spoil the overall plot as there is a very major twist.

There are a number of big names in this film so the acting is superb and there are many scenes which left me both laughing and intrigued.

Again i must stress that if you go into this film expecting anything other than a fun, exhilarating action movie not to be taken seriously then you will miss the whole point as many other reviewers have, this is definitely a comedy. A great, fun film for the lads.

A shaggy dog story that goes enjoyably nowhere.

[slimjack · 6/10 · 23 March 2007]

There is a new genre infesting our nation's movie theaters. With apologies to Garrison Kellior, let's call it "guy noir". Films aimed directly at the young, hip male audience. Movies that are an unholy combination of old fashioned film noir and the modern action movie, as directed by the class clown. They offer fast paced entertainment, great character actors, twisty plot lines, explosions and more spent ordinance than used in a typical week in Baghdad. Even new genres breed clichés however and the original freshness heralded by Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is beginning to smell the slightest bit stale. This brings us to Smokin' Aces, a movie that isn't so smug as to be intolerable or so brilliant as to be ground breaking. Rather it is good, competent, workmanlike example of its genre, which is bad news for a movie that wants to be hip and edgy.

Smokin' Aces has the requisite twisty plot. Actually it has at least nine plots, all twisty. In fact it has so many plots the movie dissolves into a series of incidences strung together by a smattering of narrative glue. Aces, a card magician and mob nabob, turns federal stoolie and a dying Godfather posts a high dollar contract on him. Naturally every photogenic hit-man with the weekend free descends upon Ace's casino penthouse to do the job and collect the dough. Smokin' Aces tries hard and includes everything needed to qualify as guy noir. It even tries to incorporate the "Tarantino Digression". That is, extended expository flashbacks incorporated for no good reason except that they are fun to watch. Smoking Aces can't quite pull these off as they require a defter touch than the movie is capable of.

There aren't any real people in Smokin' Aces. All the characters are strictly stereotypes played for effect rather than reality. Jeremy Piven as Aces is the self loathing hop head, Alicia Keys and Georgia Sykes are the hot lesbian hit team, Ben Afleck is the hipster bounty hunter and so on. Everything you need to know about these guys you learn in the first split second they are on the screen. There is no star in Smokin' Aces. Afleck, the biggest name, has a relatively small part and is upstaged by his hat. You might remember Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling as the Tremor brothers if only because they were the loudest, most violent bunch in a loud violent movie. The only actor who rises above caricature is Ray Liotta, who invests his FBI agent with quiet dignity and a touch of pathos and in doing so sticks out like a sore thumb. It takes a strange sort of movie for a review to criticize the one genuinely good performance in it but Liotta just doesn't fit.

Smokin' Aces manages to hold its whirly gig self together for the most part. There are a few problems. It goes on too long after the climatic blood bath wrapping up plot threads you probably didn't notice amongst the explosions. There is a denouement where a hero, brought in from way out in left field, makes an existential choice that is not nearly as agonizing as the movie thinks it is because we have no emotional investment in the fellow making it. Though the final plot twist is prepared for and makes as much sense as anything else in the film, still it feels flat and unsatisfying. Think of Smokin' Aces as a shaggy dog story. It's long, involved and fun to listen to but ultimately goes nowhere.

Gore and Grins for the Guys

[lotekguy-1 · 7/10 · 26 January 2007]

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.

Complex but enthralling multiple contract killer film...

[joebloggscity · 7/10 · 14 January 2007]

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..

Thoroughly Impressed

[CagedinSanity · 7/10 · 18 May 2009]

6.6 (The collective rating at the time of this writing) is pretty accurate.

I watched this on Netflix (via Xbox Live) a while ago and haven't mustered up enough words to give this a sound review. So this will be one of my shorter ones. Or at least one of my least detailed, on par with some of my much earlier reviews.

I remember a while ago, seeing the previews of this and knowing right off the bat that it was my type of movie. Mindless, violent, and awesome. NUMEROUS mercenaries and assassins are sent towards one guy for being a mob mole. A brilliant concept where they could have easily just made it a mindless slaughter-fest.

I went in expecting that, and that's exactly what I got.

What I DIDN'T expect is an entire back storyline detailing the history of facial disguises and how much of an important part it plays throughout the entire story - even though it's in the background and not revealed until the very end.

So it started as a mindless "ten versus one" assassination but ended as a near-intellectual thriller. I was, as my summary tagline thing states, "Thoroughly impressed".

I know I gave it a 7 but I honestly cannot think of any gripes, and the ones I do are way too minor and end up having a balancing factor.

For example, the movie doesn't seem to want us to be sympathetic with "Aces". The balancing act? It later reveals that you're really not supposed to be.

And that's pretty much the rest of the cast too. They act well, but you don't really give a damn about any of them; BUT THAT'S OKAY. Once again, you don't really HAVE to.

So, I suppose I gave it a 7 (as opposed to 8 or 9, I almost never give out 10's) because it's raunchy and mindless and it's not really any kind of instant classic.

Either way, it's worth seeing. Definitely. I'm glad I did.

Not bad

[Antagonisten · 6/10 · 2 July 2007]

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.

Welcome to the magic show

[omega23 · 6/10 · 23 January 2007]

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.

A lot better than what it's given credit for...

[IamtheRegalTreatment · 9/10 · 25 January 2007]

I've read some of the reviews for this movie, and I can't agree with them. I completely disagree in that I thought this was a very entertaining movie. The concept was very well thought out but it wasn't perfect, obviously.

Basically, the movie was about several groups of assassins all gunning for the same man for the same price. The reason he is wanted dead is because of his snitching and deceitful ways. I'm not going to give anything away, but once you watch the movie you'll know there's a lot more behind that. Only thing you really need to do is pay as close attention as you can during the beginning, because it does get a little confusing. The story moves along pretty quickly, but you will get the gist of it.

Overall, I thought it was very well done. The plot was good, the characters were amazing (especially Ryan Reynolds), and there were some nice action parts. Even though it dragged on a little bit during the middle, it was necessary to develop plot details. 9 out of 10 stars from me; it was very entertaining and thought provoking. Last but not least, the white karate kid in the trailer was hilarious, "Why you eye-ballin' me son!?".

Pretty good overall

[sfp5005 · 7/10 · 25 January 2007]

There was a fair amount of comedy, thrill, and action. Each element was delivered at the right moment. The premise of the movie is not too complex. The movie provides enough background information in order for you to enjoy the movie. You have to buy in to the contrivance that multiple people are going to try to kill one man on the top floor of a casino. If you get pass that, you will have a really good time. Character performances were great. It has an amazing cast. Wonderful performances are given to Ryan Reynolds in a serious role and Jeremey Piven.

OVERALL...The story was good. This movie also had appealing eye-candy. You will get excited about this movie.

A pointless mess. Don't waste any time here like I did.

[ThomDerd · 2/10 · 16 April 2021]

I regret wasting my time watching this. Overall, this is a rather violent incomprehensible mess of a film. The numerous famous cameos and the star-packed cast do nothing here. Once you're done watching this you 'll know that you really could have spend your time in a better way. 2/10. Unnecessary.

things u should know when walking in that theater. (NOT A SPOILER)

[Tifighter1 · 9/10 · 16 January 2007]

This movie was excellent. I thought that it was great camera work and the plot of the story was original as well as captivating. Go see this movie. I went to the screening and I'm glad that i waited the 45min outside in the 25 degree weather and then another hour inside the movie theater with a bunch of loud people next to me. Trust me...its worth your money and your time. One word of advice though. This movie is not for people with attention problems. You miss one second of this movie or even a word you might miss the whole object of the movie so just be careful. Jeremy Piven (Buddy 'Aces' Israel) was dramatic as well as freaking hilarious. Ryan Reynolds (Agent Richard Messner) was also a strong dual character. His comedic presence as well as his strong dramatic performance was enough to make this movie a hit in theaters. The rest of the cast are well known actors who each play there own essential role in the movie and make it that much better. I hope you like the movie and my review. This is my first "official" review on paper but its not my first time writing reviews or watching movies. The movie comes out in theaters on January 26, 2007 so keep an eye out and enjoy.

Up in Smoke

[DrPhilmreview · 12 February 2007]

Joe Carnahan is a decent director, but he's a terrible scriptwriter, as anyone watching ten minutes of "Smoking Aces" would quickly see for themselves. People were walking out of this film in little groups as the plot unfolded and the characters got more outrageous and unlikely. I almost walked out myself, but wanted to see the end of the train wreck.

Jeremy Piven is terrible as a headlining Las Vegas magician (!) who agrees to testify against a top mob boss. So all types of hit men (and women) go to Lake Tahoe to smoke the drug addicted performer, hoping to collect the one million dollar bounty. The worst of these are the three loud Nazi skinhead hit men, who are just ridiculous.

The only reason to see this movie is to watch Ben Affleck get smoked by the Aryan hit men. And then use his dead body as a puppet, leading to the best acting Affleck has done in years.

This soooo makes me hope Tarentino's next film (coming out in April) is a return to form like "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservior Dogs" instead of a stupid, dumb violent action picture like this, which is clearly trying to be Tarantino-like, but fails miserably.

Something's Missing

[jp_011205 · 6/10 · 1 February 2007]

Here we are folks. The real start of the year for films has finally begun. Director and screenwriter Joe Carnahan's shoot 'em up adrenaline flick, 'Smokin' Aces' starts it all. With its intriguing cast and premise it looked to be something to talk about. Although it has a few decent qualities, there's still something missing.

Five time entertainer of the year Buddy "Aces" Israel, played by Jeremy Piven, has gotten himself into quite a pickle. Associating himself with the crime leaders of the underworld in Las Vegas he became delusional. He started believing he himself was one of them. After many failed schemes Aces decides the only way to get himself out of the mess he's created is to rat out his associates to the FBI. In turn, mob boss Primo Sparazza puts a bounty on Aces. One million dollars to be exact. Not only does he want him dead though, he wants his heart too. Once word of the bounty spreads, hit men (and women) from all over make their way to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout hoping to get to him first and get their hands on the one million dollars.

At the beginning, everything in 'Aces' is a bit of jumbled mess. Back to back flashback narratives explaining everything up until the present do not let up and may cause some viewers to stop and think twice about what was just said. The same thing happens near the end and comes off the same way. This is a film that can't be taken seriously, and there's just far too much storyline here. Carnahan tried a little too hard to make it more clever than it needed to be, which takes it down a few notches.

Obviously though, we all know what everyone is going to see this film for; the action scenes. They range from good to excellent with none of them being amazing. Some of them are a little too well planned and executed to be seen as believable, but that's not an issue really. They're all pretty pleasing, and that'll be good enough for most people.

What really makes everything all go together, and is the actual glue of the film are the characters. They're each interesting, entertaining, & fun. We have a torture fiend, chainsaw wielding brothers, a pair of sniper lesbians, & a master of disguise. Most appealing would be Alicia Keys'. In her acting debut, she demonstrates just the right amount of cool and sexy melded together to make her character Georgia Sykes the vixen sniper in one word, awesome. Also just as surprising and also a relief was Affleck didn't, I repeat didn't ruin the film. Now I'm not saying he was good either. Just go and see the film and you'll see what I mean… Now with all that said, there remains to be something missing here. I'm not going to drag out with a couple of jokes what it is either. Plain and simple, it's Tarantino. 'Smokin' Aces' looks like it was made from some Quentin Tarantino movie kit. Apparently, Carnahan didn't follow the directions correctly. Had Tarantino been the director, I think it could've been great. He would have added that little something that only he can that made 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'From Dusk Till Dawn' what they were. At least 'Grindhouse' will be here in a couple of months. Still, if you're looking for some high energy fun, 'Smokin' Aces' is where it's at.

I can see why some may like it but I didn't think it was anything more than average.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 10 July 2010]

Smokin' Aces starts as mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) puts a hit out on Las Vegas magician turned state informant Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) with instructions to cut out & return his heart. FBI agent Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) & his partner Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) are assigned to go to Lake Taho where Israel is hiding in the penthouse of the Newton Hotel, the race is on between various freelance assassins seeking the one million payout, bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) after Israel for a skipped bond reward & the FBI as to who gets to Israel first. As people die it becomes clear to agent Messner that there is much more going on than a simple witness protection case...

This American, British & French co-production was directed by Joe Carnahan & to me is a British gangster flick wannabe, Smokin' Aces felt like an attempt to make a Guy Ritchie flick the US & while it's not a complete loss I must admit I didn't like it as much as many seem to. I found the script unnecessarily complicated, not complicated because I couldn't follow or understand it but complicated because at heart Smokin' Aces is a pretty simple film. A guy named Buddy 'Aces' Israel who has mixed with the wrong people wants to turn witness for the FBI & as such it's straight race between the good guy's & bad guy's to who gets to him first, that's really all there is too it & the numerous subplots & character's just slow things down & get in the way. I wouldn't mind so much if Smokin' Aces had the humour & twist's of a Guy Ritchie flick but they don't, in fact I was quite surprised at how serious Smokin' Aces takes itself. The amount of character's is another problem, there are too many & there are too many unlikable ones particularly that awful black woman with the sniper rifle. There's a lot of early exposition that bogs the film down & it's not always clear who or what is being spoken about, the twist ending isn't that great with a rather lame surprise & like the FBI & hospital would leave those two alone in a room together unguarded. At over an hour & forty minutes Smokin' Aces is quite long with only one big action scene & even that is just a shoot-out, the dialogue isn't as sharp or cool or referential or quotable as say a Quinten Tarintino or Guy Ritchie gangster flick (you know the ones I mean) & I simply didn't care for anyone or anything on screen at any time.

There are a few really silly over the top scenes & character's like the three Tremor brother's who surely wouldn't be that hard to track down & find if you were the police? The scene inside the house with the kid & Granny are also silly & feel out of place. The attitude of just about every character here towards everyone else is sheer callousness, even Agent Messner when all those FBI guy's get shot the only one he seem bothered about & tries to save is his partner. There's no soul or heart in Smokin' Aces & I found it hard to like & therefore care about anyone. Surprisingly short on action there's one big shoot-out otherwise it's fairly low key stuff & the film relies more on it's over complicated plot. As an action film there's not enough here & as a thriller it ties itself up in knots.

With a supposed budget of about $17,000,000 this was actually filmed in Lake Tahoe & Las Vegas. It looks nice enough the who feel of the film again tries to duplicate a Guy Ritchie flick with speed-ups, slow motions, frame skipping, split screen, people talking over other scenes, flashback revelations, impossible camera movements & the whole filming style just screams British gangster thriller. There's a decent cast here with singers Alicia Keys & Common making their acting debuts.

Smokin' Aces is a film I didn't like that much, sure it tells a story & it has a bit of style but it doesn't add up to much & the lack of action & dialogue heavy exposition slow it down too much too often. Followed by the direct to video sequel Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball (2010) which I have yet to see.

Definitely a mixed bag, but had its moments

[lemon_magic · 6/10 · 9 June 2007]

If I had to hazard a guess as to what director/writer Carnahan was going for with this movie, I'd have to go with "Elmore Leonard meets Reservoir Dogs and Guy Ritchie, only with a bigger cast of characters." Potential viewers should adjust their expectations accordingly, and PC soccer moms should stay away entirely.

There were individual scenes and individual snippets of dialog and screen action and camera shots that I thought were really snappy and well done here. Ben Affleck reminded me why I liked him in the first place in his minor part; Ryan Reynolds gave a very impressive (if somewhat one dimensional) performance; Ray Liotta was his usual compelling self; and there are numerous supporting actors playing funny and quirky and "interesting" hipster outlaw characters...and yet the whole thing just did not come together.

The real problem, for me, is that the screenplay starts out as something of an outlaw comedy, but suddenly turns bloody and grim and gruesome and then ends up glum and fatalistic and depressing (with the exception of a wonderful "kiss off" scene between the surviving bail bondsman/bounty hunter and the remaining Tremor brother). I'm not sure why Carnahan decided to end the story on the note he did. It seems to me that if you're going to do cheerful black hearted nihilism for 2/3rds of a film, you have no business switching moods to sincerity and outrage 10 minutes from the end.

The plot is, of course, pandemonium, with a dozen aggressively hip characters bouncing off each other like cats in a laundry sack, and the back story is so twisted and convoluted that it hardly seems worth the eventual payoff. To give the screenplay fair credit, though, it does play fair with the audience and I guessed the movie's big "twist" ending far in advance based on clues planted early on. So there's a plus and a minus there.

I started out thinking I might buy this DVD for the first 30 minutes, (I'm a sucker for well done caper films) but decided by the end that I might keep a copy in my collection if someone gave one to me...or maybe not. It was worth watching once, anyway.

inconsistent mess that will only appeal to those impressed by noise and violence

[bob the moo · 15 June 2007]

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.

Action and violence as just about everybody go after Buddy 'Aces' Israel

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 23 May 2017]

Buddy 'Aces' Israel is a Las Vegas magician who had become a little too close to the Mafia; at first he just enjoyed hanging out with mobsters then he wanted to become one and finally he has a choice; go to jail or inform on the mob… in particular Primo Sparazza the brutal leader of the Las Vegas Mob. Soon there is a million dollar bounty on his head and a variety of hit men (and women), bounty hunters and the FBI are converging on his penthouse apartment in a Lake Tahoe hotel. When they get there all hell will break loose.

For the most part this is a fairly routine action film; it starts well with the explanation of the main plot and introduction of the numerous people we assume will be the main characters. A few of them don't really last long enough to be considered main characters though. They are a varied bunch; a pair of FBI agents who think taking Buddy into custody should be a relatively routine assignment; a pair of female assassins; a trio of somewhat insane killers; a few independent killers; a group of bounty hunters; Buddy and his entourage and mention of the mysterious 'Swede'. During these introductions we see flashbacks of some of their previous work. Once the action in Tahoe gets started it is quickly turned up to eleven and it is anybody's guess which of our protagonists will survive. The cast includes plenty of familiar names including; Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds they all do a decent enough jobs although for me the most memorable characters were played by singer Alicia Keys, on her acting debut, and Taraji P. Henson as the hitwomen Georgia Sykes and Sharice Watters… this may have been aided by the fact that the latter's weapon of choice was a massive fifty calibre rifle! As the film reaches its end there is a twist that is a bit unnecessary but wasn't enough to detract from the film. It must be noted that this film isn't for the squeamish as there is a lot of bloody mayhem which is often brutal rather than just over-the-top. Overall though I'd recommend this to anybody wanting action, a degree of comedy and isn't easily offended.

Much style, little substance. Mimics Tarantino and others.

[bopdog · 6/10 · 15 January 2007]

'Smokin' Aces' has lots of style--- in fact, it reminded me of a Quenton Tarantino, Elmor Leonard kind of thing. Sort of like 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Get Shorty', in the vibe, if not the actual set-up.

The cast is first rate. And there are moments of movie-making skill. Certainly it is competent throughout, in fact it's probably 'pretty good' throughout. The thing is, does all that style add up to much? Maybe I'm too cynical, or am being too hard to please? But it seemed to me that a weakness of the movie was, in fact, its style. That is, because I kept noticing its Tarantino vibe, instead of being simply immersed in THIS movie--- maybe 'Smokin' Aces' was a bit of a trifle? A bit of a meringue, a fluffy piece of directorial muscle-flexing? I don't mean to say it is in any way bad. After all, a well done style exercise is hard to do, and it IS a statement of sorts. But by the end of the movie I was kind of not caring who lived or died.

After 27 gun battles, some more, and some less, implausible than the others, I was certainly inured to the violence. I kind of didn't care any more. And that goes for the whole movie. At the end, I went, 'Hmmm. Yawn... got to get to the car park and get my car now'. A more impacting and meaningful movie would have had me pondering SOMETHING--- either the movie itself, or life, or hoodlums, or cops, or human ambition, or whatever.

Some of the implausibilities are easily written off and forgiven as literary or artistic license. Hey, it IS just a movie, and some goofy stunts in the name of entertainment are fine. But some of them were silly to the point of being stupid, and distracting, like a kids' cartoon. For example, at one point a sniper is firing a BAR .50 cal rifle from the 15th floor of a high-rise hotel into the heroes' floor in the hotel next door. Fine. But then half a dozen FBI agents simply whip out their 9 mm pistols and blindly start blasting back, some of them shielding their eyes from flying glass, as they duck and dive to hide from the sniper's bullets. They are shooting blindly, some from over their shoulders, some from around their backs, ALL without aiming. And all of them were also shooting directly into the exposed windows of a 20-storey hotel, endangering hundreds of civilians. That just would NOT ever happen in the real world. Ever! Yet there were several such scenes in 'Smokin' Aces'.

Small complaints, to be sure. But those, and other, gross illogicalities did distract me from believing in the scenes and the movie's story. And then, toward the end, when we are told the real reason for the interest in the Aces character-- I won't reveal it here, but it was so slim and implausible that the whole movie world kind of collapsed for me, and no longer made sense. It became a silly and half-baked fantasy of a movie idea, rather than a finished and professional movie project.

So, bottom line: a well made, but ordinary, movie. Good escapism, if you can handle extreme violence, but nothing to provoke, or invoke, anything deeper or more meaningful than the 2 hours of the movie itself. I gave this a 6 out of 10, rather than an 8 or so, for being vapid.

It goes through almost all the emotions.

[darky-m · 7/10 · 7 March 2007]

I'm sick and tired of these people who watch a movie at some lame "premiere" and then criticize said movie because it was too complex. Wake up! Some movies are simple and beautiful. Others are complex but also great. You can't just trash a movie for seeing it once and not understanding it's meaning. You have to work it. Watch it a few times to get the whole story before you make a stupid review. How many years did it take humanity to recognize Van Gogh and some other painters and writers? Some times it took decades. So remember kids cinema is art not an excuse to eat popcorn.

Now the Smoking Aces: It goes through almost all the emotions. It's funny, it's sad, it's annoying, it's cool, it's hip and it shoots up the place. Good story, cool characters and a few great actors. It delivers thrills with a reasonably good filming and it's a definite watch. Not a masterpiece but a pretty good flick.

Excellent Action With style

[wereuat06-1 · 10/10 · 4 January 2007]

I went to the world premier of this movie and it was excellent. I was surprised at how they made a hit man movie with a great story so stylish. The action sequences were very entertaining along with Jeremy Piven smart style and elegant acting making this movie superb. It keeps you at the edge of your seat throughout the whole film. It is a very hard hitting mob movie. With some unfamiliarly faces to the hit men. Then there is Ben Affleck who plays Jack Dupree in perfect fashion. I came to see a good crime movie and thats what they gave me. There is no way you cannot like this movie unless your under seven. It has everything suspense action violence sexiness and even comedy.

This movie persists in a much faster version of a Goodfellas and Lucky Number Slevin. Every part makes you hope the next part is better and gives out the impression that the mob could be this hard hitting. All the hit men are played perfect looking to kill this one man who has snitched and they use there weapons the way any action freak would want them to. This movie is a great action with comedy. It is for the family 14 and up. I recommend this to anyone who likes a good crime movie with fashion. I give this movie an 8 out of 10. Make sure you see it when it comes out.

Not Quite Smokin' *SPOILERS*

[tastethevapour · 7/10 · 20 January 2007]

I was looking forward to this film since I saw the trailer back in November for a few reasons. One, the cast looked brilliant as it brought in veterans of past gangster movies like Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta and mixed them in with some younger, fresher, hipper faces like Ryan Reynolds and Alicia Keyes. The other was that it looked like it could be a film that could match the likes of Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock.

However that turned out to be the films problem. It was a bit too Tarantino and Guy Ritchie and while the film was pretty original, I couldn't help but think I was watching an American version of Lock, Stock with more guns. Even with all those guns though, there ended up not being a whole lot of action after all even though there is a massive body count.

I have a few other complaints that I'll just keep brief - it all seemed to get a bit too serious at the end and didn't seem to suit the tone for the rest of the film. Ben Affleck had far too little a role in it for being billed as the leading man (however his demise came as a shock. The whole thing seemed a bit pointless when the ending came about.

Good points however - Ryan Reynolds really surprised me as he turned out to be the real leading man. Having only really seen him in comedy roles before, he was entirely convincing in his role here and cracked no jokes at all. Thumbs up to him. Alicia Keyes was also great for this being her first acting role and looked absolutely incredible. The action (even though there probably wasn't enough for a film of it's kind) was pretty spectacular while it lasted. There are also a lot of scenes with some pretty sharp humour especially with the three Nazis.

All in all this is a pretty decent movie, not a classic by any means but worth seeing for sure.

A movie you want to like... but just can NOT!

[ianridd2 · 3/10 · 25 June 2007]

This movie should get high marks for its style, but everything about its style that is likable, was ripped off from Guy Ritchie. The plot is sooo out there, that I can only imagine that the writer, director... producers and pretty much every studio exec was doing more blow than the characters in the film.

I got the distinct feeling that the ending was done in re-shoots. There are only two main characters in the entire ending. And the ending is basically Andy Garcia reading you the reveal, as one gigantic paragraph. Something tells me this was not the original ending.

At its best, the movie is a psychedelic, post-modernist romp through the crime genre. All the usual wash-outs and degenerates from the Mickey Spillane novels are here, but they have a 21st century spin to them. High high marks for Jason Bateman. His cameo appearance is almost worth the price of admission.

The violent scenes are pretty much the best part of the film, and some of them are genuinely tense. But they are filled with glaring holes. Time and again, cops and security guards fail to follow basic precautions and wind up getting killed for it. Alicia Keys and Ryan Reynolds are miscast. Andy Garcia! Holy cow, what does he call that accent? Southern/Boston.

Most of the pivotal events of the film are based around happenstance and freak luck. Without getting into the details, the ending is unbelievably hack and unimaginative. Put it this way, the emotional core of the story is based around a character that we never meet, except in flashbacks. And the inciting incident of the film (the hit being put on Israel) appears to have been a giant misunderstanding. (the guy said they wanted "Israel's heart". They construed that to mean they wanted him dead. But who put the million dollars in a swiss bank account and told every hit man in the Western Hemisphere that they could have it for killing him? Makes no sense) What a rip off!!

High Points: 1) Jason Bateman (is AMAZING, in fact I swear that when he is slapping high-fives in the hotel room, Ben Affleck is struggling to keep a straight face.) 2) The Neo-Nazi characters (even though it felt as though they had been lifted from Big Lebowski and The Road Warrior). Their malevolence is so gleeful that it's contagious. 3) Jeremy Piven's coked-out, paranoid Israel. If there is a shred of human emotional core to this film, this is it. He nails the character, both megalomaniacal and insecure. As his situation becomes increasingly desperate, he sinks further and further into self-delusion. The camera trains on his eyes and Piven somehow builds a universe of frailty inside. It's wonderful.

Low Points: 1) Andy Freakin' Garcia (yeesh!). Speaking of a universe of self-delusion. Watching an actor slip in and out of an accent is like listening to a guitarist play out-of-tune. But it is clear that Andy Garcia is utterly convinced of his own prowess. Sad. 2) Guy Ritchie rip-offs everywhere 3) Movie begins and ends with tons of back story given in paragraph form. Always a bad sign. 4) The sense of time is extremely distorted (I swear the skinheads were riding the elevator up to the penthouse for twenty minutes) 5) The cops and security guards in this movie are only one step above Keystone Cops. Bumbling idiots who fall for the flimsiest deceits. 6) There are at least five characters who take a ton of bullets, and somehow live through it. And when I say a ton of bullets, I'm talk ten to twenty at point blank range. One is difficult to believe, but it happens over and over again. 7) Everything about Alicia Keys' exit from the building is contrived and impossible to believe. 8) The writer and director seem to treat story like style and style like story. The story behind this movie is confusing at best and ridiculous and contrived at worst and serves only as a silly excuse to get Nazis and Lesbians and coke-heads and cross-dressers together for an orgy of violence and cool dialog.

Vastly underrated. Well worth a watch for fans of action movies. ( American A+ Movie) My Ratings 10/10

[THE-BEACON-OF-MOVIES-RAFA · 10/10 · 2 March 2020]

Critics are terrible. So arrogant and stuck up with their opinions. Not everything has to be some intellectual undertaking or be done "perfectly". Critics are the quentisential example of "those who can't do..." This is an entertaining shoot'em up movie, period. All I care about when watching a movie like this is enjoying it. And Smoking Aces is immensely enjoyable. Are there some weak spots, sure. Name a movie that doesn't have those.

not bad not good but watchable!!

[annemshields · 7/10 · 9 April 2007]

This movie has so much going for it but doesn't quite deliver - it has the edginess of "lock stock".....the slick delivery of say "heat" and the grooviness of "pulp fiction" but it turns out to be a mish mash of all three and gives this impression so the viewer doesn't quite get the impact that was intended. Even so if you like a good gangster thriller you've got all the right ingredients lots of shoot m ups, blood and bullets and a variety of well known actors in some rather varied roles. I would have liked to have seen more character focus instead of what turns out to be a kind of mob filled yarn along the lines of the wacky races!!!!!!!!!!

oh Ray, how you have stooped....

[sarahalub · 1/10 · 12 January 2007]

Ray Ray Ray....did 'Revolver' teach you nothing?? For a man who was once in a Scorsese movie, its hard to imagine he'd end up like this....sunk to depths of the lowest degree. Well hopefully the reviews this film will no doubt receive will teach Mr. Liotta a thing or two about 'money over credibility', because this film is enough to suffocate anyone's career. (And Affleck should be ashamed of himself... wasn't 'Gigli' enough of a lesson!!!READ the Scripts in future Ben)

'Now thats what i call gangsters 2006'

Possibly a more fitting title for such a dire film.

Please allow me to elaborate

Think of possibly every single 'villian' cliché in cinematic history, presented to us in a rapid 'MTV' style manner, all after one guy, and all introduced to us within the first ten minutes of the film.

You've got Ace, (the guy they wanna kill because he double crossed the mafia, or something along those lines....it all becomes a blur after a while), the million members of the mafia (nice of them to explain what 'La Cosa Nostra' stands for right at the start, and then fail to explain anything else from that point onwards). and then comes the villains

In no particular order:

Some guy who takes on the deranged Hannibal lecter type character, (you gotta have the psycho), followed by the redneck Neo-Nazi brothers with the 'Mad Max' style attire, (and the inconspicuous chainsaws....discreet), Alisha Keys makes an appearance as the 'badass' street talking contract killer (thus bringing a more urban flavour to whole melting pot), you've got the eastern European master of disguise (who makes faces out of latex, and disguises himself as his dead victims...cunning)and a few other characters (who you soon forget about)...headache is the only way of describing this intro.

After half an hour you're still probably as perplexed as you where within the first five minutes, because nothing is clarified (fine...a linear narrative, as we know is not the be and and end of all of films), but some kind of coherence is surely a must.

Anyway in an over the top (being an understatement) way they all go to bring ace back to the mafia, trying to each get there before anyone else. The big twist (i say twist, although i really failed to care by this point), comes at the end when you find out the truth about why the mafia wanted ace really.

OK heres what i don't get:

The man who makes the faces from latex.....how on earth did he manage to kill Hugo, mould the guys face, let it dry, put it on, (powder it up with a bit of makeup), and get a wig identical to Hugo's actual hairdo...all in the space of what appeared to be no more than 10 minutes!

Alisha keys' character.....runs off with that guy who worked for Ace, after about 2 seconds of meeting him, and allows her 'friend' to get gunned down by police, whilst shes outside with prince charming arranging a date location!rather unfair.. and WHY was she not arrested????

why were there another lot of prostitutes coming to aces penthouse when about 6 had just left! has this man never heard of chlamydia!

This whole thing was very very laughable,especially the last part of the film with the '90's action movie' style blowing up and gunning down of everything in sight.

I'm sure this movie wishes it was a Tarentino, because it tries so hard to be cool...but we all know that when you try too hard it shows. It upsets me that people are even trying to find comparisons between this movie and 'Goodfellas', because its like comparing a Mcdonalds to fine French cuisine.

In Liotta's defence however, he was possibly the best thing about this mess of a movie. He just wasted his talents on such a bad movie.