TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Floated2 Smokin' Aces is a violent crime action thriller which has been reminded and compared to Pulp Fiction and Quentin Tarantino's style of film making. This film is an overload of multiple characters and it shifts from scenes very quickly. The story is relatively simple yet confusing and not too interesting for an ensemble of crew. The main problem is the ensemble of characters and very few to root for, which most of them are unlikable and not too interesting. The film is quite entertaining at some aspects but overall drags on as a violent mess. Jeremy Piven arguably steals the scenes he is apart, portraying his similar character as in Entourage, as well as Ryan Reynolds being part of the main focal point and protagonist.

Tweekums Buddy 'Aces' Israel is a Las Vegas magician who had become a little too close to the Mafia; at first he just enjoyed hanging out with mobsters then he wanted to become one and finally he has a choice; go to jail or inform on the mob… in particular Primo Sparazza the brutal leader of the Las Vegas Mob. Soon there is a million dollar bounty on his head and a variety of hit men (and women), bounty hunters and the FBI are converging on his penthouse apartment in a Lake Tahoe hotel. When they get there all hell will break loose.For the most part this is a fairly routine action film; it starts well with the explanation of the main plot and introduction of the numerous people we assume will be the main characters. A few of them don't really last long enough to be considered main characters though. They are a varied bunch; a pair of FBI agents who think taking Buddy into custody should be a relatively routine assignment; a pair of female assassins; a trio of somewhat insane killers; a few independent killers; a group of bounty hunters; Buddy and his entourage and mention of the mysterious 'Swede'. During these introductions we see flashbacks of some of their previous work. Once the action in Tahoe gets started it is quickly turned up to eleven and it is anybody's guess which of our protagonists will survive. The cast includes plenty of familiar names including; Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds they all do a decent enough jobs although for me the most memorable characters were played by singer Alicia Keys, on her acting debut, and Taraji P. Henson as the hitwomen Georgia Sykes and Sharice Watters… this may have been aided by the fact that the latter's weapon of choice was a massive fifty calibre rifle! As the film reaches its end there is a twist that is a bit unnecessary but wasn't enough to detract from the film. It must be noted that this film isn't for the squeamish as there is a lot of bloody mayhem which is often brutal rather than just over-the-top. Overall though I'd recommend this to anybody wanting action, a degree of comedy and isn't easily offended.

room102 Brililant movie. Direction, editing, writing, fantastic music and brilliant score by the wonderful Clint Mansell, excellent cinematography and camera work (great steadicam work). And man, what a cast! Everyone gives Oscar-worthy performance. The characters are so unique and interesting that almost ANY of them could have had a spin-off by itself: Buddy Israel, the Tremor brothers, Rupert 'Rip' Reed (the lawyer, Jason Bateman), Hugo, Lazlo Soot, Pasquale Acosta, and even the kid and his grandmother - I would watch a movie about ANY of them. Brilliant weirdo characters and brilliant performance by all of them.I simply don't understand how a guy like Joe Carnahan can write and direct such a brilliant movie - and then come up with awful movies like "A-Team", "The Grey" and "Stretch". Was it just luck? Did he simply choose a great cast and crew?

heath-jeffrey Overall a pretty solid action movie. It's a bit quirky in places (such as with one of the teams of assassins that are reminiscent of Mad Max characters), but otherwise just good modern action. A lot of good genre-relevant actors in it too.But it's Ryan Reynolds and the character he plays that really helps keep you engaged. Without that character, it would be mindless, pointless action, but his character brings in some genuine human response to it all - helps the audience sympathise and thereby feel more involved in the story.Just a shame that there's no real twist. They set up this 'Israel' character as being some kind of clever magician, fiddling with his card tricks, and making comments about seeing something that's not really the case... but nothing ever happens with that. A bit of let down when everything else was really quite strong for the genre.