SMOKIN' ACES
Carnahan's Smoking Barrels and Gallons of
"Reservoir" Blood: To Live and Die In Las Vegas
PopcornReel.com Film Review: "Smokin' Aces"
By Omar P.L. Moore/January 7, 2007
Jeremy Piven as Buddy "Aces" Israel and Ryan Reynolds and
Ray Liotta as FBI agents on his tail, in "Smokin' Aces", directed by Joe
Carnahan.
(All photos: Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures)
Las Vegas is described as "Sin City" and is very much in evidence
in "Smokin' Aces", Joe Carnahan's film which opens on January 26 in the United
States and Canada and is released by Universal Pictures. This frenzied
film centers on multiple (at least seven) hitmen who are all trying to "smoke"
out one Buddy "Aces" Israel (played in an homage to all doomed gangster
wannabees by Jeremy Piven), a man who thinks he's a bigger man on the Vegas
crime campus than he actually is.
All the characters are introduced in a series of either thunderous or equally
non-descript episodes as they all appear to talk about how much getting this
big-time magician turned small-time criminal means to them. From the FBI
head (Andy Garcia) to his underlings Carruthers (Ray Liotta) and Messner (Ryan
Reynolds), to bail bondsman (Ben Affleck) and an ex-cop (Peter Berg), to two
women Georgia and Sharice (Alicia Keys and Taraji Henson) to a trio of drugged
out nihilist no-hopers The Tremor Brothers, to the chameleon Soot (Joel
Edgerton), they will all do any and everything to be the first to bag this
bounty. Colorful language, feuding prostitutes, cross-dressing lawyers,
bullets, blood and operatic occurrences are the order of the day in "Smokin'
Aces", with some situations and characters that David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino
and John Woo would be proud of. Carnahan has a number of aces hidden in
some of his bizarre and often appealing characters, and bloody appetites to
whet.
The film is shot in what at times seems to be Technicolor or Super 16mm
(cinematographer Mauro Fiore) and it is edited in a series of rushes, flash
forwards, slow-motions and speed-ups, evoking the feel of a spaghetti western.
The filmmaking style is almost as busy as the endless machinations of the
characters. "Smokin' Aces" isn't a bad film -- there's a lot going on,
maybe too much in fact -- it's just that the final payoff seems not to merit all
the grand and industrious efforts of Mr. Carnahan and his cast and crew.
Jeremy Piven does a good job here as the prized tortoise in the eye of several
hares, and aside from a decent film debut from two musicians-by-trade Common and
Alicia Keys, everyone else has their mundane and outrageous moments. "Smokin'
Aces" is a good film if you like non-stop blood-and-guts action, but if you want
a coherent, clear and concise narrative, the aces in that deck have been
trumped.
"Smokin' Aces" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some nudity and drug use. It is written and directed by Joe Carnahan, and features an unrecognizable Jason Bateman. The film's duration is ?
Taraji Henson and Alicia Keys as assassins on a mission;
The unforgettable Tremor Brothers make their mark, in "Smokin' Aces".
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