Customer Reviews

Smokin' Aces

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I really wanted this to be good. You look at the list of characters that star in this and you figure it has got to be good. I was hoping for a semi serious picture with a great story like Ocean's Eleven(the remake). Instead this was more of a Hong Kong over the top action film with buckets of bloody killings. I don't mind pictures like that, but the box said drama comedy. I'm not sure where the comedy was in the movie. The acting is fine, and there certainly was some offbeat characters. Unfortunately everything has a ton of promise, but very little hits the mark. This was decent to watch and entertaining, but I wasn't blown away like I would have hoped. Certainly worth renting, and probably a buy for a lot of people. I would watch it first rather than making a blind buy.

Smokin Aces is one of the best eye candy films I have seen in years.

It is full of interesting camera angles, shocks, thrills, humor and characters that you will remember. I for one appreciate the fact that almost none of the actors were cast as you'd expect. And while SA is not what I would call a retro-style film, there are more than enough nods to the 1970's that fans of that culture like me will really get a kick out of this film's style.

And WHAT a soundtrack.

Note: there are so many plots and subplots interwoven throughout SA that you will surely need to see this movie once more to catch everything, including some of the more profound statements about the darker sides of the human psyche that the director may or may not be trying to comment on.

Some of the reviewers say there's too much violence. Hello. That's what these types of movies are about. Period.

All in all, SA is a great-looking and trippy action flick that doesn't try to be something that it isn't: "deep." Don't look for Academy Award winning ANYTHING here. But be prepared for an interesting ride that you will surely want to take again, and in 20 years it will be a lot more acclaimed than it is now. Just wait and see.

Believe it or not, this movie was actually relatively entertaining. Even when some pretty small parts are involved, I am always interested in seeing a movie with a cast like this. Let me list a few people who made appearances in Smokin' Aces: Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Common, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, "that girl from Hustle & Flow," Jason Bateman and Matthew Fox.

The movie was completely ridiculous. Ryan Reynolds started to go a little overboard at the end, but other than that the movie does not take itself seriously at all. If you try to take this movie seriously, you will be grossly disappointed. Smokin' Aces combined just about every possible stereotype into a murder-for-hire movie, but did it to be satirical and did not come across as cliché. It was so ridiculous, in fact, that I considered it almost on par with a Quentin Tarantino flick.

Call me crazy, but I liked Smokin' Aces...for what it was. I was looking for an off-the-wall, shoot-'em-up, action movie and that is exactly what I got. I was even impressed with the creativity behind the story (though the end was somewhat of a let down).

`Smokin' Aces' released on DVD in '07 is the next step in the evolution of madness and mayhem begun by the '94 cult classic `Pulp Fiction' and redefined in '03 with `Kill Bill.' Like the two previously mentioned films "Smokin' Aces' presents a display of outlandish, wacked out "bad guys" and hard nosed, amoral "good guys" that will keep you riveted to the screen. The action is fast and furious, the bloodshed plentiful and the plot turns will keep you wondering where this film is taking you until the very end.

This movie is definitely not for everyone [especially children] but if you like this genre of film you'll love this one!

If you like your violence to be action-coated with a veneer of dark humor to help it go down smoothly, then pick up a six pack and a copy of "Smokin' Aces." Maybe you oughta make that two six-packs, since you'll probably feel compelled to watch the film a second time anyway. Then again, maybe the beer is a bad idea, since it may inhibit your ability to comprehend the storyline. Hell, I was sober as a judge, and I found myself hitting rewind at least four times, trying to figure out who was killing whom, and why they were doing it. "Smokin' Aces" pulls its audience in so many directions simultaneously that you'll feel as stretched as Gumby at a tractor pull.

The plot concerns itself with Buddy "Aces" Israel, a Vegas magician who gets intimately involved with the mob, but somehow turns state's witness. While he is holed up in a penthouse suite, the `organization' places a highly publicized and highly valuable contract on his head (or more accurately, his heart - the mob boss wants his second most valuable organ removed). As a result, every psychotic, money-hungry lunatic rushes to compete for the prize. While the premise suggests that a sense of humor is essential to the storyline, the plot is actually much more gruesome than I had expected. More than once, I couldn't decide to laugh or wince as the blood sprayed abundantly. Between the flying bullets, plot twists pile up as fast as the body count.

As "Aces" Israel, Jeremy Piven manages some of the rawest, reddest eyes I have ever seen outside of a medical marijuana center. Ben Affleck and Andy Garcia provide star power, but major props must go to singer-turned-actress Alicia Keys. As if being mentioned as a lust object in a Bob Dylan song weren't enough in 2006, she also manages to own this movie every time her bewigged character appears onscreen.

While many movies combine plot twists and blood, few of them resemble the crimson-tainted pretzel of "Smokin' Aces." Perhaps if you cross "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" with "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," you'll get some idea of what to expect - lots of dead bodies (more than either of the above, and probably more than both combined), an array of insane characters, a great cast, and a monumentally confusing plot. To add to the confusion, the DVD offers alternate endings and plenty of out-takes - enough to keep you busy while waiting for the beer buzz to wear off. B+ Tom Ryan

If you took a blender and added parts of "Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill," and "The Usual Suspects," you would come up with "Smokin' Aces," a movie illustrating how an ambitious director copies cinematic style, plots, and characters in an attempt to duplicate the success of earlier movies.
The plot of "Smokin' Aces" is simple: Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven), a longtime associate of mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin), has agreed to turn state's evidence to save his own skin by testifying that Sparazza has been responsible for over 130 contract murders. When the mob learns of this betrayal, they put a one-million-dollar bounty on Aces' head. They don't care who kills him, just as long as the deed is accomplished quickly. Knowing he is a marked man, Aces has sequestered himself in a heavily guarded Lake Tahoe suite.
The potential assassins include partners Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys) and sniper Sharice Watters (Tarajii Henson); a psychopathic trio of neo-Nazi inbreeds known as the Tremor brothers (Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, Maury Serling); and two international hit men, torture specialist Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) and master of disguise Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan).
Complicating matters, Vegas bail bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) is hired by attorney "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman) to find the bail-jumping Aces before he gets handed over to the F.B.I.
F.B.I. Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) has dispatched his top agent, Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds), his veteran partner, Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta), and their team to the Tahoe hotel to protect Aces.
The film switches around, tracing the convergence of the bevy of assassins on the fortress-like suite, Dupree and his team's plan to "bring in" Aces, and the F.B.I. agents' attempt to defend the informant.
If you're lost by now, you should be. The film tosses a huge number of characters out in relatively short order, expecting the viewer to keep track of who's who, who's doing what, and whom to root for. And that is Problem #1. Things jump around so quickly that it's hard to identify with anyone, and everyone -- with the exception of the F.B.I. agents -- seems scurrilous, reprehensible or, at best, sleazy. Aces himself is the vilest character in the picture. As portrayed by Piven, he is a coked-up martinet barking out orders to his flunkies as practically every hit man and woman worth the name is closing in. We don't like him. Should we be in his corner or that of the professional murderers out to off him?
What is most disappointing about "Smokin' Aces" is the waste of top talent. The cast is impressive, and many actors turn in fine performances. Liotta, Bateman, and Keys, in particular, stand out, but in this mess of a movie, their work cannot be fully appreciated.
Writer/director Joe Carnahan is obviously a fan of cult action cinema, since he cribs from nearly every successful offbeat action drama of the last ten years. Every few minutes, the viewer is reminded of a scene or a character or a plot turn in a previous film. It gets to the point that it becomes more interesting to identify movie references than to get involved with the story at hand. Carnahan has an obvious appreciation of action movies, but his work in "Smokin' Aces" comes off as failed parody.
"Smokin' Aces" is extremely violent, fully meriting its R rating. But this is the worst kind of violence. It is exploitative. Rather than the violence serving the plot, it appears the plot was constructed around set pieces of extreme violence. As in "Hamlet," there will be a lot of dead bodies at the end. But there will be little audience sympathy for the deceased. "Smokin' Aces" makes you appreciate all the more those films with violence -- such as "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond" -- that have substance and allow the viewer to feel something for the characters.
This is a short-cut movie, the worst kind. It makes a mad dash to the action stuff at the expense of characterization, assuming the viewer will be swept along in the film's fast pace. Don't be fooled. "Smokin' Aces" is pedestrian movie making.

this movie is definitely in my top 50. It was violent, but there was an intresting plot. It kept you on your toes, but there was enough action to keep you excited. I am a big fan of Jeremy Piven, Taraji P. Henson, and Common. Yet, my favorite character was the gradnson in the karate outfit with ADHD. He was hilarious! Everytime I see a kid in a karate uniform that character is the first thing that comes to mind! If you haven't seen it, see it. If you don't own it, own it. It's a good one to watch over and over again.

I went into theatres not knowing what to expect, I was very surprised it turned out to be more then I expected it to be. alot of people like it, some dont. I personally Love this movie, Its a very intense storylined action film. It goes in detail about most of the assassains, you get to know the FBI Agents Portrayed by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta. The Cast was great each excelled at his/her role, no weak links. Jeremy Piven is the character that the movie sorrounds, hes a cocaine addicted vegas showman who gets in a bad entanglement with the mob. I highly recommened this film to anyone who likes a great action movie with a solid storyline. At the time it played in theatres It was one of the best action films id seen in many years. Ray Liotta makes a strong showing in this film although in my view nothing will touch the role he played in Goodfellas, the chemistry in that movie along with the story was to good to be topped by anything hell ever do which is why its pointless for people to compare other roles to that movie, Goodfellas was a dipalma masterpeice it had Liotta, Dinero and Pescis terrific chemistry words of advice when seeing Liotta and Pesci is not to compare their other roles to that movie. Dinero possibly can be compared due to the fact hes had so many great roles that go with that style movie. But again id highly recommened this movie to any fan of hard hitting action drama films. When it comes to blu ray or dvd this film all the way through and around is better on Blu Ray the superior picture and sound helps miles and miles with the movie and its style to see the full effect and extent. Enjoy it if you choose to see it I hope you do. Hope this review helps.

Man was I not expecting this movie to be what it was. I actually thought this movie was just going to be a whatever, everyone shoots eachother, and its just goin to be a crappy story with a lot of blood everywhere. Boy was I wrong!? This movie was fantastic! Great story, made sense, shows background, and it explains whats going on and who everyone is. If you get lost, you are simply just dumb. I was not suspecting to love this movie at all. I think all the actors and actresses did a phonomanal job in their roles and the action was just right. If you want to see a good action-drama, this is your movie!!
And from personal experience, this something that is a little believable on the FBI side. It is something they would do, so the story isn't 100% bull. Great Action, Great story, Great characters.

This decent flick deserves at least 3 stars for the fast paced and bloody action. It is light, fun and does not seem to take itself too seriously. I gave it an additional star just for the use of John Cale's Big White Cloud and the casting of the scrumptious Alicia Keys.