"Make it make sense!" On one simple line of dialog, Smokin' Aces rests on such a critical breaking point. The brains behind this action film of operatic proportions, Joe Carnahan, ditch to tie everything together and reveal relevance to everything that was previously beheld, explodes in his face, killing what was a highly indulgent romp. Before this moment to show the slightest of moral, a romp is all Smokin' Aces is.
It's hard not to see an influence of Tony Scott (with a touch of Guy Ritche Snatch era). A man who seems to be leading the trend of hyperactive directing, over editing, bleached out and over saturated visuals. But an influence is all it is. Not reaching the epileptic levels of Scott, Carnahan controls the hyper activity, though still finishes with an end product that resembles something hap-hazardously mashed together; Carnahan's work on The Hire series a glimpse of what was to come. He tries to juggle to many characters on a pretty thin plot line. The plot in question, Vegas performer Buddy 'Aces' Israel wants out of the mob, turning snitch for the government to whip the mob out. Aces goes under protection, yet the mob want him eliminated, placing a one million dollar bounty upon Aces head, unleashing multiple assassins trying to reach that bounty first.
Smokin' Aces is mind boggling in the opening scenes. Character upon character are introduced without much coherence, trying to set up the premise as quickly as possible. After time when who's who and what's what settles, it all becomes a straight ahead affair. Smokin' Aces runs at a hyperactive pace, yet the adrenaline doesn't kick in for quite some time. Not until the showdown starts, bullets flying, bodies dropping, blood gushing everywhere with the walls splattered red, does this gets some guts. Carnaham though isn't really trying to re-invent anything, just to deliver popcorn entertainment, which he delivers the goods.
Boasting an impressive cast, too many cooks aren't spoiling the broth, disappointingly too many lye under par; most notably Andy Garcia and Joel Edgerton's Russian accent. Ryan Reynolds doesn't match to a tuff cop role, while Jeremy Piven is nicely over the top as Aces. Ben Affleck and Martin Henderson walk through without much energy. Ray Liotta rises to the top as Carruthers, along with Alicia Keys as Georgia Sykes. Matthew Fox and Jason Bateman are worth their measure in their cameo spots.
Smokin' Aces may miss fire at times, and an ending that was better left unsaid, Carnaham executes this with exuberant energy that rivals a child in the world's largest candy store, his eyes were just to big for his stomach.
It's hard not to see an influence of Tony Scott (with a touch of Guy Ritche Snatch era). A man who seems to be leading the trend of hyperactive directing, over editing, bleached out and over saturated visuals. But an influence is all it is. Not reaching the epileptic levels of Scott, Carnahan controls the hyper activity, though still finishes with an end product that resembles something hap-hazardously mashed together; Carnahan's work on The Hire series a glimpse of what was to come. He tries to juggle to many characters on a pretty thin plot line. The plot in question, Vegas performer Buddy 'Aces' Israel wants out of the mob, turning snitch for the government to whip the mob out. Aces goes under protection, yet the mob want him eliminated, placing a one million dollar bounty upon Aces head, unleashing multiple assassins trying to reach that bounty first.
Smokin' Aces is mind boggling in the opening scenes. Character upon character are introduced without much coherence, trying to set up the premise as quickly as possible. After time when who's who and what's what settles, it all becomes a straight ahead affair. Smokin' Aces runs at a hyperactive pace, yet the adrenaline doesn't kick in for quite some time. Not until the showdown starts, bullets flying, bodies dropping, blood gushing everywhere with the walls splattered red, does this gets some guts. Carnaham though isn't really trying to re-invent anything, just to deliver popcorn entertainment, which he delivers the goods.
Boasting an impressive cast, too many cooks aren't spoiling the broth, disappointingly too many lye under par; most notably Andy Garcia and Joel Edgerton's Russian accent. Ryan Reynolds doesn't match to a tuff cop role, while Jeremy Piven is nicely over the top as Aces. Ben Affleck and Martin Henderson walk through without much energy. Ray Liotta rises to the top as Carruthers, along with Alicia Keys as Georgia Sykes. Matthew Fox and Jason Bateman are worth their measure in their cameo spots.
Smokin' Aces may miss fire at times, and an ending that was better left unsaid, Carnaham executes this with exuberant energy that rivals a child in the world's largest candy store, his eyes were just to big for his stomach.