Smokin' aces, but no fire
Kooky assassin tale too cool for its own good
WILLIAM O’DONNELL VOLUNTEER STAFF
COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Smokin’ Aces
♥♥½out of 5
These days, attempting to make something really “cool” just causes congestion: be it a Fergie “song” (I use that word very loosely) that mixes together too many noises without melody, or, in the case of the film Smokin’ Aces, too much concentration on “cool” characters and action sequences, to the detriment of successful and coherent plot resolution.
The story follows former Vegas star turned mob big-shot Buddy (Aces) Israel (Jeremy Piven) who is the target of assassins (the most colourful of the characters, more on them later), bailbondsmen and the FBI. The majority of the film is spent detailing everyone’s plans, which would have been fine if the ending weren’t so boring.
The rabble of killers assembled for the hit on Israel consists of a pseudo-lesbian couple working as a sniper/prostitute team, three neo- Nazi rednecks who kill their targets by eliminating everyone in their vicinity via chainsaws and machine guns, a master of disguise, and a master of torture who is poetic and seemingly saddened by his murderous job (a contradiction I could not look past). While this collection of assassins make for plenty of violent hijinx and misadventures, it all becomes too much and soon they become harbingers for pointlessly violent scenes and gags.
Writer/director Joe Carnahan seems to want to strike a balance between the kooky caper film (in the vein of Guy Ritchie and his musicvideo approach to cinema), and serious drama involving life-or-death consequences for dangerous lifestyles. The contrasts are too emphatic and erratic to make any melding plausible. This failure to blend two conflicting genres is largely due to the inclusion of some particularly awful scenes. For example: some impossibly annoying sequences featuring a kid with ADD. Is a geeky white preteen boy with a lazy eye, wearing a karate robe and spouting endless hip-hop slang, amusing? My conclusion, after viewing this film, is an overwhelming and unbending “No!” Scenes such as this made the film steer well away from being taken seriously, in the worst way.
The ending, go figure, involves a plot twist that’s detailed through an overly long and typical cop-overthe- edge argument between Ryan Reynolds and Andy Garcia. It’s almost as if the film is two disguised as one: the first is a wacky and violent romp that ends with anti-tank weapons and a huge body count; the second is the intense tale of a man who realizes that the good life “ain’t so good.”
Carnahan throws a lot of balls into his juggle, too many. But the circus keeps churning and if you are looking for something big and flashy to occupy you while you eat your popcorn, then this film might just do the trick (so long as you have the stomach for big gun violence). Most of Smokin’ Aces is fun enough to be considered good; it is simply hindered by handful of rotten scenes and a lack of overall focus.
