Review: Smokin’ Aces

Coke-snorting Vegas magician Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven, in his sleazy, blurry-eyed element) gets so involved in the criminal underworld that he starts to think he’s a big man, and decides to sell some important information. Naturally, the mob ain’t too happy and put a $1 million bounty on Buddy’s head, with all manner of weirdos (notably the Tremors, a band of feral-looking psychos clearly inspired by “Mad Max 2” and “Romper Stomper”, one of them played by Chris Pine), professional killers (including emotionless Nestor Carbonell, and master-of-disguise Tommy Flanagan), and wannabe tough guys coming out to rub the little weasel out and collect the dough. Ryan Reynolds (surprisingly effective) and Ray Liotta are a couple of FBI guys trying to stop the fit hitting the shans, with Andy Garcia playing their unconvincingly Southern-accented boss. R&B singer Alicia Keys makes her solid acting debut as a Pam Grier-inspired hit-woman, with a startlingly tough-looking Taraji P. Henson (from “Hustle & Flow”) as her lesbian sidekick. Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, and Martin Henderson play bail bondsmen who aren’t as smart as they think, with Henderson having a seriously weird side-trip to Hicksville USA. Jason Bateman is hysterically funny as a perverted, coked-up lawyer in a terrific cameo.

 

2006 Joe Carnahan (the gritty “Narc”) B-movie might be just another Quentin Tarantino/Guy Ritchie/John Woo wannabe (albeit a fun one) if it weren’t for my having a sneaking suspicion that the director and presumably everyone else, played it for satire of the whole QT-wannabe genre (or the John Woo school of dopey action movie filmmaking. I really do suspect that this film is a parody of Woo’s awful OTT work on “Mi2”, but I may be alone on that).  At least, I hope it’s meant to be ludicrously funny- I mean, it’s basically 90 minutes of over-the-top characterisations and a ridiculously violent climax. And really, Ben Affleck as a tough bail bondsman? Who can take that seriously? Anyway, it’s certainly not boring, often visually dynamic, with one action sequence in particular (involving Henson and Keys) that contains the damndest gunshot I’ve ever seen.

 

The cast is a mixed bag, with a few lame characters (notably Henderson and the bizarro Three Tremors) that could’ve been excised, but Reynolds and Liotta are solid, Piven is perfectly cast, and Bateman’s cameo is absolutely hilarious. Funny cameo by a karate-kicking kid with ADHD, too.

 

Think of it as “Pulp Fiction” meets “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, and just sit back and relax, because it’s all in fun, and without that nasty aftertaste QT sometimes leaves (notably with Uma OD’ing in “Pulp Fiction”- no, I haven’t gotten over it yet, and I never will. It’s overrated, I tells ‘ya!). It’s fun just to work out who you think will make it out alive, or who (if anyone) will kill the sleazy, bleary-eyed sonofabitch Israel. The screenplay by the director, has some clever twists and turns, especially towards the end. I have no idea why people hate this film so much, it’s dumb fun, yet not just the mindless action film you might expect (The action really only comes after the midway point).

 

Rating: B-