Smokin' Aces starts as mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) puts a hit out on Las Vegas magician turned state informant Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) with instructions to cut out & return his heart. FBI agent Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) & his partner Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) are assigned to go to Lake Taho where Israel is hiding in the penthouse of the Newton Hotel, the race is on between various freelance assassins seeking the one million payout, bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) after Israel for a skipped bond reward & the FBI as to who gets to Israel first. As people die it becomes clear to agent Messner that there is much more going on than a simple witness protection case...

This American, British & French co-production was directed by Joe Carnahan & to me is a British gangster flick wannabe, Smokin' Aces felt like an attempt to make a Guy Ritchie flick the US & while it's not a complete loss I must admit I didn't like it as much as many seem to. I found the script unnecessarily complicated, not complicated because I couldn't follow or understand it but complicated because at heart Smokin' Aces is a pretty simple film. A guy named Buddy 'Aces' Israel who has mixed with the wrong people wants to turn witness for the FBI & as such it's straight race between the good guy's & bad guy's to who gets to him first, that's really all there is too it & the numerous subplots & character's just slow things down & get in the way. I wouldn't mind so much if Smokin' Aces had the humour & twist's of a Guy Ritchie flick but they don't, in fact I was quite surprised at how serious Smokin' Aces takes itself. The amount of character's is another problem, there are too many & there are too many unlikable ones particularly that awful black woman with the sniper rifle. There's a lot of early exposition that bogs the film down & it's not always clear who or what is being spoken about, the twist ending isn't that great with a rather lame surprise & like the FBI & hospital would leave those two alone in a room together unguarded. At over an hour & forty minutes Smokin' Aces is quite long with only one big action scene & even that is just a shoot-out, the dialogue isn't as sharp or cool or referential or quotable as say a Quinten Tarintino or Guy Ritchie gangster flick (you know the ones I mean) & I simply didn't care for anyone or anything on screen at any time.

There are a few really silly over the top scenes & character's like the three Tremor brother's who surely wouldn't be that hard to track down & find if you were the police? The scene inside the house with the kid & Granny are also silly & feel out of place. The attitude of just about every character here towards everyone else is sheer callousness, even Agent Messner when all those FBI guy's get shot the only one he seem bothered about & tries to save is his partner. There's no soul or heart in Smokin' Aces & I found it hard to like & therefore care about anyone. Surprisingly short on action there's one big shoot-out otherwise it's fairly low key stuff & the film relies more on it's over complicated plot. As an action film there's not enough here & as a thriller it ties itself up in knots.

With a supposed budget of about $17,000,000 this was actually filmed in Lake Tahoe & Las Vegas. It looks nice enough the who feel of the film again tries to duplicate a Guy Ritchie flick with speed-ups, slow motions, frame skipping, split screen, people talking over other scenes, flashback revelations, impossible camera movements & the whole filming style just screams British gangster thriller. There's a decent cast here with singers Alicia Keys & Common making their acting debuts.

Smokin' Aces is a film I didn't like that much, sure it tells a story & it has a bit of style but it doesn't add up to much & the lack of action & dialogue heavy exposition slow it down too much too often. Followed by the direct to video sequel Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball (2010) which I have yet to see.

FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia),agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) are using Las Vegas magician wannabe gangster Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) to bring down the last mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin). Sparazza has issued a $1 million bounty on Israel. This brings in contract killers Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan),Sharice Watters (Taraji P. Henson) and Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys),Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell),and neo-Nazis Darwin (Chris Pine),Jeeves (Kevin Durand) and Lester (Maury Sterling). Bail bondsmen Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck),Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson) hired by sleazy lawyer Rip Reed (Jason Bateman) who wants him back.

This is a massive mess of crazy characters in a stylized gangster movie. It's nearly impossible to connect with any of the characters. The writing is all style and nothing too sharp. There are some crazy fun action as long as one can maintain attention long enough to see them.

It's a typically muddled Joe Carnahan movie in which people are freely shot with what the film maker imagines is great style.

A Vegas entertainer is working with the FBI to bring down the last of the Mafia mob bosses, but it's by no means a straightforward story, except for the large amount of stage blood that is spattered around. There's no real character to any of the characters, just a convoluted conspiracy amidst large amounts of bloodshed and shattered glass in a Vegas hotel.