Smoking Aces

Well, I admit my viewing of this flic arose from the thought that Guy Ritchie copycats might use character development and thus out-perform Ritchie's schoolhouse-rock-style. I deceived myself. We have the allure of colorful characters and a convoluted plot, both of which lead to expectations that character interactions, wry wit, and unexpected outcomes (i.e. "character terminations") would yield high entertainment. But the Smoking Aces ("SA") writers were way off base. There really isn't a plot-- there's a goal and a five-minute setup for that goal. Then there are unrelated actions of unrelated parties to which the audience never will relate.

Here we go. Mob guys wanna "off" an insider turning federal witness. The mob publishes a huge payoff for the person who carves out and delivers the witness' heart. Low-rate, unimaginative hitmen (/women) go for the contract. The FBI suddenly realizes they should protect their witness. The competitors race towards the witness and fire weapons. The end.

No one cares for the witness, who seems to be the only antagonist. I'd explain further, but spoilers would naturally ensue. Essentially, the entire movie lacks a hero. The FBI agent we assume to be the hero simply turns out to be an idiot a la Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds). We never get to know Liotta or Garcia. The other actors play one-dimensional characters. None of the assassins use intriguing methods or invoke any interest. This movie was better suited as a short film. Seriously, this wasn't worth a rental fee. I give it a two outta 10 because I feel sorry for the actors who needed work. Make that a 1.5 outta 10... they shoulda killed the annoying brat (why was that even in the film?!) in Act II. Of course, in this flic, Act II could also be called "an hour of misplaced, useless fill material."