Smokin’ Aces (2007) June 14, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Joe Carnahan
There’s something inherently ‘laddish’ about a movie like Smokin’ Aces – a film that explodes onto the screen, all guns blazing (literally), for 110-minutes of relentless testosterone-fuelled excitement. Or so its trailers would have you believe. Of course, real cinema aficionados should know better than to trust a trailer when it comes to determining the quality of a movie, but I won’t lie and say that it didn’t intrigue me – I fell right into the marketing trap: I’m a guy. I like action. This is my kind of flick!
And so to the story, which revolves around one character in particular: Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven), a Vegas magician who is about to testify against the mob regarding recent deals he has been privy to. Naturally, the mob boss isn’t too thrilled about this, and so he puts a $1 million price on Buddy’s head. This brings all sorts of bounty hunters and guns-for-hire out of the woodwork, who, along with the two FBI officers assigned to collect him, are all in a race to see who can reach his Lake Tahoe penthouse first. Cue violence.
Or do we? You see, there’s an expectation that this story will build slowly up to a crazy all-action finale, which is exactly what it starts to do. But unfortunately, when the movie finally decides to blow its wad, the result is surprisingly disappointing. Plus, the film then chooses to free-wheel for a while towards the actual conclusion, climaxing in a finale that’s somewhat flat, despite the desperate attempt at a final twist.
The plot is quite difficult to follow, with key dialogue often being explained through mumbles, or via difficult-to-interpret telephone conversations. It’s almost as if the film-makers don’t want you to pay any attention to the plot, which makes me wonder why they then choose to include so much of it as the movie goes on. It can be quite a task to keep up with all the characters too, mainly because there are just so many of them. Each new main character is introduced with his or her name and occupation appearing on the screen, but it quickly gets to the point where you’re thinking: “Another one? Somebody ‘smoke’ this guy already!”.
That’s a lot of negativity though, and the film is not all bad. Joe Carnahan directs with flair, keeping his shots tight for most of the conversational scenes and opening the frame up during the action sequences. There are some nice CG-created shots too, although in the end it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. He also wrote the script, but as already mentioned, much of it is lost in the general happenings and important stuff like people being gunned down.
The cast is quite enjoyable too, although with so many characters some get more involved than others. There are whole roles that probably could’ve been erased from the movie, especially Hollis (played by Martin Henderson) and almost everyone he comes into contact with. I think Jeremy Piven is a great actor and he does the most work, suffering from a nervous breakdown as Buddy, the guy everyone wants dead. Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta are also good as the two FBI agents trying to make sure Buddy stays alive.
It might be a bit of a stupid movie, but its unashamed attitude means I really can’t hold that against it. When all is said and done however, while this film has its moments, I’m not exactly crazy about it. Even as a blow-out action flick it’s not overly satisfying, plus the ending the filmmakers try so hard to give the story doesn’t really work on any level. A shame, especially when you consider that Carnahan’s directorial debut was called ‘Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane’. If it really wanted to live up to its marketing, Smokin’ Aces could’ve done with a bit more of all those elements.
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