Starring: Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Ben Affleck, Common, Alicia Keys
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Written by: Joe Carnahan

Run Time: 1 hr. 48 min.

With guns firing and blazing during the usual Oscar film territory quiet of January, the ultra violent and profane Smokin’ Aces flies into theaters, with a large ensemble cast of rising stars and character actors. But even with the loads of violence and language, as well as the intriguing premise, Aces never really reaches the heights of the Pulp Fictions of the world.

With a cast lead by Entourage MVP Jeremy Piven, the story starts with a mob boss placing a million dollar bounty on the head of a Las Vegas illusionist turned wannabe gangster Buddy Isreal (Piven). Isreal decides to turn himself into the FBI, hoping to cut a deal and get out of the situation scot free. Isreal has to hide out in Lake Tahoe, until a deal can be made, and he must avoid scores of hitmen (ranging from wild rednecks to a lesbian tag team hit crew) in order to stay alive.

The movie sets itself up well enough, with two FBI agents (Liotta and Reynolds) staking out the mob boss and hoping to keep Isreal alive. The early scene of Piven with his bodyguards and a suite full of hookers and cocaine is probably the best scene of the movie. But as the movie goes along, the subplots of the movie begin to take hold and confuse the viewer with what the main story actually is. The movie should have been best left to the almost Cannonball Run style pursuit for Isreal in Lake Tahoe.

This reviewer would normally find Piven entertaining if he was just clipping his toenails, but his character was so high and full of paranoia most of the time, it lacked the range and comedic fury of most of his characters. And change of direction of the deputy director of the FBI character (Andy Garcia) seemed to have no logical reason.

But there are some strong performances in the movie. In his first movie, rapper Common pulls off a cool and smooth vibe as one of Isreal’s bodyguards. Also, love him or hate him, Ryan Reynolds is finding a niche as a funnyman in an action flick. Also, even though I think Alicia Keys watched every Pam Grier movie to research for her Aces role, she surprises as the lesbian hitwoman and may have a career outside of music.

By early trailers, Aces looked to be the cool, hip action flick of January, but unfortunately, is just mindless and often non-logical action that strives hard to be something its not. It somewhat resembles the Keira Knightley flick Domino, another high octane action flick released in January desperately trying to be cool. Aces isn’t quite the mess that Domino was, but its lacks the fire and passion of the movies it tried so hard to be.

GRADE: C+