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Smokin' Aces

Review By: Jason Babb
JasonBabb@TheCinemaSource.com

Just when you thought you had enough shoot-em-up, bang-bang movies last year, 2007 kicks off with Smokin’ Aces, an action comedy directed by Joe Carnahan. I like action comedies but sometimes I’m not sure if I’m laughing at the people being killed or how they get killed. Has the action genre resorted to multiple killings and fancy guns to keep its audiences tuned in? I think there should be a separate category for films like The Departed and Smokin Aces. Shootem up bang-bang!

Smokin Aces is about a dying mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) who puts a $1 million hit on a Las Vegas magician/comedian Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven) who snitched out significant members of the Las Vegas mob to the FBI. Agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) are assigned to protect their key witness under strict supervision to bring down Sparazza.

After realizing how much trouble he will be in once his connections find out he, he decides to indulge himself in cocaine-fuelled debauchery in his hotel suite. This hit attracts all kinds of bidders who have no problem with wasting away a wealthy, coked-up sleazy magician. These assassins range from sadistic punk rock killers to sexy femme fatales, including hot Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys) and lastly ruthless double crossing Eastern European mobsters who have their own motives.

Bullets start flying throughout the casino with heavy artillery, a large body counts, total destruction and non-stop action. The bounty killers all collide in very intense shoot-out scenes with style and excellent dialogue.

FBI head Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) plays a small role more significant towards the end. Ben Affleck also features in the film but doesn’t last very long. (Sorry but neither does his career). Smokin’ Aces has a very large cast where there is no specific concentration on any character. There is no clear protagonist and hardly any direction in the movie. I was a little lost in following the film but the characters were very cool. Hip-Hop artist Common plays a bodyguard for Aces and gets his hands dirty a little himself.

Director Joe Carnahan does a good job in assembling the right crew for creating the cool visuals, explosions and shoot out scenes. There was one weapon in the film that actress Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow) was handling that was a huge automatic firing machine gun that even The Terminator would have probably had trouble operating. In fact Henson was one of the most interesting characters in the film with her smart mouth and tough girl attitude.

The killings were excessive and unnecessary in addition to the many inefficient bonehead thugs for hire. The explanation of the back story comes way too late in the film leaving the audience more than enough time on the way home to ...