The basic elements of this movie were very entertaining. It had a well chosen cast with surprisingly good acting, and a bizarre yet funny mix of characters.
I enjoyed Tremor Brothers' Maile's Restaurant massacre entrance scene. Also visually pleasing was the action climax in the hotel hallway, where Sharice's 50 calibre pierced through agents and sent them flying sideways. The most unexpected part was of course the sudden killing of Ben Affleck's dumb trio by the Tremors, an even dumber trio.
As for the ending, I like the alternate cowboy version -- Messner shooting through the glass doors of ICU -- much better. It fits with the whole gist of this film, whereas the sentimental 'breaking down into tears after pulling the plug' scene seemed out of place.
Despite the generally well chosen cast, I couldn't really stand the Hugo guy though, Aussie or not. Maybe it's just his toilet-bowl style hair, or small eyes. Good thing is we have Alicia Keys in sexy hooker boots, and cute Ryan Reynolds with a beard!
The biggest flaw was the plot -- the twist was too try-hard, and did they explain what happened to the real mafia boss (or did I just miss that)?
This film would've been better if it were a bit cleverer, or focused on having more action/humour instead -- especially when I was expecting for heaps of creative weapons from each gang, but turned out to be mostly the Tremor Brothers' gears.
The pacing also needed improvement (slow down in some parts, speed up in others!). I am not a fan of MV-like scenes with uninteresting music either. They make films look cheap.
However, the director Joe Carnahan does deserve some praise for his effort of shooting action scenes in one continuous take, instead of editing all the bits and pieces in the end. AND he was a fellow blue collar --moved furniture for eight years -- before making his name.
I would give this movie a similar rating as IMDB's 6ish.
The best(?) part of the film was Ryan Reynolds as FBI agent Messner. I did not realise he was in this until well into the movie. Probably because I didn't even know how Ryan Reynolds looked like before – he’s one of those performers more famous for their private lives than professional achievements.
Nonetheless, he was hot in the movie ... especially with all the blood on his face and shirt! IMO he looks better with a beard, and will probably be more attractive as he 'matures' (as opposed to 'aging').
I look forward to renting Blade: Trinity, just for his sake ;-)
(Photo not from Smokin' Aces, probably from Blade: Trinity; courtesy of Google The Search Engine.)
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