Smokin' Aces Review by Chris (4.5 Stars)

Smokin' Aces Review by Chris (4.5 Stars) | MatchFlick

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Movie Details

All Movie Info

Starring:
Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Common, Joseph Ruskin, Andy Garcia, Alex Rocco, Wayne Newton, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Peter Berg, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Henderson, Taraji P. Henson, Alicia Keys, Chris Pine, Christopher Michael Holley, Scott Bloom, Tommy Flanagan, Mike Falkow, Mike Falkow

Directed By:
Joe Carnahan

Written By:
Joe Carnahan

Smokin' Aces (2007)

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Movie Review by Chris
December 29th, 2007

Adrenaline Pumping and Thrilling

Buddy Isreal (Jeremy Piven) is one of Las Vegas's most popular showmen. He does magic, comedy and more. When he get's used to all of the attention though he decides to go Sinatra and join the mafia. Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) helps him get to that level, hooking him up with everything he needs to get it going. Then he begins getting big, robbing banks and calling hits. So when he splits up what Sparrazzo started, Sparrazzo gets after him. A 1,000,000 million dollar hit has been placed on Isreal, which brings out the freakiest of freaks, including The Tremors and the FBI.

Jermemy Piven plays as "Aces", or Buddy Isreal. Buddy is the man in which the hit is set on, so it must be tough to accomplish this role. We see a big change in the character as the movie goes on, as Buddy is certainly an ass and the guy in which nobody really likes. Jeremy does an amazing job with the role, as he accomplishes it on a comedic and a serious level. Ryan Reynold's plays as Agent Richard Messner, and I really dug his performance. I loved him in The Amityville Horror and I thought that this character was great for him. There is a scene in the end which really blew me away and Ryan took the role and pushed it to the next level. Also in the acting lineup is Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta and Peter Berg.

Many critics approached this movie as being a rip off of something Quentin Tarantino might have done. I see where they got the information from because the script has an equal amount of both comedy and seriousness. Plus, Quentin always does a good job with how he sets the movie up, with some flashbacks and a lot of cool little editing tricks. Thats what Jow Carnahan attempts to do. Now I must say that all the editing tricks and directing made the movie just a little bit better, but it made it look and feel like abou 90% of all of the modern day action films were seeing lately.

In the beginning of the movie, it is kind of more of a crime drama and a chase film put together. As we get towards the climax though, the whole mood just flips upside down. Major action junkies would completely dig the final 15 minutes of the film as the adrenaline begins kicking in. I love the way its setup because as a movie lover, I really didnt see that coming. I though that in the end we would get a few plot twists and everything but instead it just put me to the edge of my seat. As girls blast away with 50. Calibers and chainsaws begin going off, I really got into it. Plus, the climax of the movie fits it perfectly.

The one thing I deeply had a problem with was the fact that we could have had so much more character development, which we do get a little bit, but we couldve had more.

So Smokin' Aces finishes out as a really complete action film with 4 1/2 stars. Its worth it.

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	Xavier Dec 29, 2007 9:20 AM
D'ya know, this was one of the very few film that completely lost interest in me. The credits rolled and I struggled to remember exactly what had happened in the previous hour. Maybe I should give it another try.

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