Smokin' Aces Reviews

Shockingly poor.

This film is painful. Considering the cast they had to work with, it's a miracle anyone could produce something as shockingly mundane and uninspired as this. To all the people who gave this 4 and 5 stars - WERE WE WATCHING THE SAME FILM? It's blasphemy to compare this to Lock Stock in any sense. It lacks any sophistication, the dialogue is functional at best, the editing and music are hectic to the point of nausea and the 'violence' is laughably tame. Whoever said this film was brutal needs to start watching some more films. In a nutshell, do not waste your rental on this film, I wish I hadn't.

Oceans 11 crossed with Reservoir Dogs

This film is a toughie... i loved it alot... but in the same breath, there are a number of things that wound me up about it.

Lets just look at the story briefly... a mob snitch who is also a Vegas Superstar has a 1 million dollar bounty on his head... which attracts an awful lot of attention from a large number of bounty hunters. The snitch (Buddy Israel) is holed up in the penthouse suite of a hotel. Who will get to him first?

In a nutshell that is the story... although, there are lots of other bits that are interwoven in... and if you ask me... they are far too distracting, and infact are the films weakest points. They should have kept the story simple and let it be all about the hit.

That aside... this film plays like Oceans 11 crossed with Reservoir Dogs... only more violent! I cant stress that enough! This film is bloody!!

The editing and photography are spot on, and its this that is very Oceans 11. Its up tempo pace and cool music... just work perfectly.

The script isnt as cool as something written by Quentin Tarantino... but its in the same vein... lots of humour with some serious moments.

The score is superb, and with the lounge music, etc... it works really well.

The film is packed full of stars in major roles as well as cameos... so keep your eye out for them! Alicia Keys is suprisingly good!

Oh... Andy Garcia puts on this sort of weird american accent... and i found it difficult to follow what he was saying half the time.

Overall... i loved the film... lots of action, humour, and cool moments. A couple of tense moments too... just not a date movie!!! As i found out! LOL...

[Highly rated reviewer]

Blood, bullets and brilliance...

Sit down and strap yourself in for this one, and don't take your eyes off the screen... otherwise you will miss something !. It is a relentless fully loaded bullet fest of huge proportions. Though it is touted in many places as 'not a chick flick' , I really was into this without a problem. For me I think the action from Jason Statham in the 'Transporter' films was top notch... Smokin' however takes all that and cranks it up even more. It has a more than decent plot, is witty classy.. and just a downright great watch. If you want to compare it to the output from say Tarantino or Guy Ritchie - go ahead, it might not have that kudos or perhaps cult status.. but it should have. I loved it . Definately rent this one.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Mindless fun!

Jeremy Piven is a card-trickster in Vegas who played at being a mobster. However things have gone a bit hairy for him, and he is considering turning on those he has mingled with and giving evidence to the FBI. Thus a contract is put on his head, with a big enough sum to attract the most dangerous of mercenaries and hitmen.

Enter Ryan Reynolds as a FBI agent who is sent by his boss, Andy Garcia, to keep him alive. Whilst at the same time a bondsman, played by Ben Affleck (with a dubious moustache), is after him for a small reward on a minor offense – totally unaware of event about to transpire. With the squads of hitmen including the neo-nazi trio, a mysterious master of disguise, and a pair of attitude fuelled women (with a seriously powerful sniper rifle), things are about to get dangerous!

Smokin’ Aces is directed with the fluidity and style of Snatch blended with the intensity of True Romance. The overall result will not be to everyone’s taste, but who cares. Switch off the brain, try not to focus too much on the story, and just enjoy the ride, because this is a film that will not repeat itself if you get confused. It will simply continue on, until the brutal end.

The action is tightly paced, and also scattered with some great black humour. One early exit from the film comes as a shock, surprise, and then leads to hilarity in the moments just after (albeit hilarity with a sad bit of melancholy giving a bit of depth to another character at the same time).

Reynolds, as ever, is fantastic throughout, but is shadowed by Piven who goes from cocky and bossy, to total wreck over the course of the film. His constant fumbling of cards seems awkward at moments, but the ‘reveal’ shows that it is intentional. His character is a man who, even in his weaker moments, still looks for applause. Now that he isn’t getting it, he desperately tries harder and harder to impress.

This is purely a fun film, although (as you should have noticed) there are potential for layers within. A rumoured extended cut may reveal some more depth, but to be honest, I care not for that as even without the depth, this is a great example of an action film that doesn’t try to be kiddy friendly.

Smokin

Well, after the trailer sold an exciting, hip, fast action flick, we settled down to watch this with quite high expectations, only to be very disappointed after it ended.

The film had so much going for it - good actors, interesting storyline, good setting, it was just done so badly.

The major plot twist was blatantly obvious, although the 'story' itself was kind of shunted in about 30 seconds, so there was no feel as to why the events were happening - even the characters weren't 'introduced' as such, so it was very random.

I looked forward to watching a 'Snatch'/Guy Ritchie style film, and was left very disappointed by this - I would avoid this, and get Hot Fuzz instead!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Thought it might be ok!

One word to describe this film.........AWFUL!! It seems to have been written by a drunk who thought up a very shallow premise to having lots of guns being fired. I feel like having a few pints to try and forget I ever wasted my time with this poor excuse for a film!

What A Mess....

I thought a film about a bunch of charismatic assasisns bumping into one another whilst trying to off the same client sounded like a lot of fun. Well it should have been, but instead we're treated to stylised nonsense. The script is shoddy and incredibly reliant on cliche, there's some horrendous over emoting and the violence is unsatisfying. This is a vacuous waste of time, Smokin' Aces is like a Americanised variation of a Guy Ritchie film but without a trace of charm or humour. A star studded cast will tempt you but do not be fooled, this one is a stinker...

Now I am confused???

Okay... I watched this from start to finish. I understood only about 30% of it and I would consider myself an intelligent man. I then asked a couple of friends who had also seen this film what it was all about - with a blank look on their faces I got an 'errrrr I have no idea - didn't follow it really'. So that confirmed to me that it wasn't just me. Perhaps if I gave it a second or third chance then I would begin to understand it better but I didn't. Would I recommend it? Well no - as it made little sense. Very very fast paced, the dialogue was very fast, to much going on and story line seemed to jump about like a bungee rope. Sorry but I would give this one a miss.

Not Cool, Not Funny and Not Good

Heavy rock, slow-mo, two handed gun play - it's all here in abundance. Smokin' Aces is a pretty awful movie and a huge waste of talent. After the brilliant Narc, this is a massive step back for Joe Carnahan.

The only saving grace is Jason Bateman, who in his very brief scenes, steals the entire movie.

When will Hollywood learn that slow-mo gun battles are not cool, they have been done a million times and far far better in Hong Kong and South Korean cinema.

If you want a decent action movie, rent A Bittersweet Life instead.....before they remake it with Ryan Gosling in the lead.

Just didn't work!

This film just simply doesn't work! i get the impression it was one of those film that was trying to be 'clever',but failed miserably. i was hoping for a twist at the end that would make up for and make sense of the nonsense that came before it.the twist that came did neither. an hour into this movie the person i was watching this film with wondered if it was meant to be a spoof. the stylised effect the makers try to give this film also completely fails. the more i think about it, the worse i think of this film. im regreting giving it 2 stars now. This film simply falils at every level. a major dissapointment.