Smokin' Aces: Review

Given the pedigree of talent behind Smokin' Aces, it can be proclaimed that the film is no more than a crushing disappointment, from the director's chair on down. For Joe Carnahan, who directs this story of a Vegas showman-turned-Mob boss who has a one million dollar contract put out on him, Smokin' Aces is a tremendous let down given the immense promise he displayed with 2002's Narc. Where Smokin' Aces predecessor was a nervy, punch in the gut crime thriller, Carnahan's latest opus is a wildly over the top, emotionally hollow shell of a film that delivers on almost nothing it promises. With the exception of a few memorable performances, the film is a forgettable actioner that greatly falls short of anything Carnahan's most obvious influence, Quentin Tarantino, has ever put on screen.

The story centers on a mob boss, Buddy "Aces" Israel (played ably by Jeremy Piven) who crosses one too many associates and as a result, has the million dollar hit put out on him due to his cooperation with an ongoing Federal Investigation. As a result, there a variety of ruthless men and women who come out of the woodwork, each trying to collect on the massive bounty that lies before them. There are two black female assassins, a trio of neo-Nazi brothers and an Irish disguise artist (amongst others). To add onto that, Ben Affleck leads a group of bounty hunters, trying to collect their bail money along with the Feds, who are desperately trying to protect their key witness in a case that will supposedly blow the top off of the Mafia. Oh, I forgot to mention Israel's collection of bodyguards and hotel security guards (Buddy is being housed in the penthouse of a Lake Tahoe Casino/Hotel). Each of these characters are armed to the teeth and are closing in on Israel at the same time. One can only imagine the chaos that ensues.

The chaos itself isn't what creates Smokin' Aces problems, as if the film took itself less seriously, it may be more successful. However, interspersed throughout the film are radical shifts in tone, changing from surreal, hyper edited action sequences to slow, pseudo dramatic moments that intend to present some humanity to the characters. However, the whole film is so debased that these interludes do nothing but make the audience groan and collapse under the heavy hand of Carnahan. The film's attempts at drama are so obviously misplaced that almost no sympathy can be felt for any of the characters. Even the federal agents, played by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta, who are the supposed heroes of the story, are accompanied by almost no emotional attachment. Carnahan seems more intent on showing the kinetic imagery of the film than developing any characters, which makes the sudden breaks into attempts at drama all the more jarring.

Smokin' Aces, if nothing else possesses a manic energy that is at times infectious. There are moments of brilliance and as a result, it isn't quite time to give up on Carnahan yet. For example, there is a small scene with the bounty hunters and their financial backer, played wonderfully by the magnificent Jason Bateman. The scene is witty, funny and quickly paced and before you know it, it is all over. However, in it, Bateman steals the film with a few short lines and some nervous glances, and long after all the smoke has cleared following the climatic battle, Bateman's character is the one that stuck most with me, a neurotic, coked-up lawyer who sits in a dimly lit room, just barley clinging to whatever sanity he has left.

Visually, the film is impressive, if one so desires an ultra (and I mean ultra) stylized thriller, filled with outlandish characters and costumes, rapid cutting and oblique camera angles. Actually, the style lends itself nicely to the material at hand, the scripts insanity going hand in hand with the outrageous visuals. Much like Narc's gritty realism, which provided a perfect match to the hard boiled intensity of that film, Smokin' Aces mise-en-scene molds to the story well and provides one of the few bright spots of the film. Given his track record now, one can't help but think that Carnahan's visual scheme will match the material of his adaptation of James Ellroy's White Jazz, scheduled to shoot in 2008, and perhaps that'll be the film to get him back on track narratively. Ellroy's book is a densely plotted, tough as nails 1950's LA noir that bristles with a palpable energy and is eagerly awaited by his legion of fans.

However, the film ultimately betrays itself with the schizophrenic nature of its narrative. At times, it wants to be a full out actioner with outrageous sequences and characters and others, it desperately attempts to elicit compassion for its characters. Both attempts are misplaced. The action is unnecessarily violent and quite frankly, boring. It has been done other places before and better than it is here. The drama is misguided and undercooked, trying to place characters we don't care about into situations that all of a sudden require we care about the characters. I have no doubt that this film will have its admirers, people who think they are watching an innovative action film. As far as I'm concerned, they can have it, I'll be too busy watching QT's Kill Bill saga, just one of those films that I mentioned mere sentences ago.

**