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The movies that are always the most difficult to review are the ones that are not bad, but that still has something missing to them. "Smokin' Aces" is definitely like that. While it's not a bad movie, it's still far from as good as it could have been.

I think the movie started out pretty well. It's got an almost "Lock Stock"-like quality to it where it presents all the main characters in different sequences. After that you feel the stage is set and the guns loaded. Unfortunately then you get the first dip in pace, and the movie never really recovers. Sure, you get a few laughs and some pretty well-done action scenes. But the pace really never picks up and lives up to the promise of the beginnings.

It's difficult for me to put my finger on why i didn't really like this movie. Like i said before it's not bad and it was fairly entertaining. Perhaps my expectations were wrong? I expected something more fast-paced and hysterical, while this is a lot more sombre in pace. The good points are the actors, not that they're great but most of them are pretty good in their parts and many of them are quite funny. Also the action scenes are pretty well done. The negative parts is that i would have liked more action, a quicker pace and a lot less bewildering ending (without giving anything away).

I think most people who like action movies might like this one. It works pretty well, although there are quite a lot of things to improve. I give it a 6/10.

Smokin' Aces was most certainly a bit of a magic show within itself, in that while you watched the evident plot go one way, you didn't notice the actual plot until BAM! it came out of nowhere. It wasn't the most coherent of plots sometimes, but for the most part it all wraps up in the end.

As far as greatness goes, this won't be up there winning awards. Rather, it might be remembered fondly as "that cool movie I saw a while ago." Good drama, good action. Ryan Reynolds breaks out in a truly serious and compelling role.

Definitely a movie worth viewing.

There is a new genre infesting our nation's movie theaters. With apologies to Garrison Kellior, let's call it "guy noir". Films aimed directly at the young, hip male audience. Movies that are an unholy combination of old fashioned film noir and the modern action movie, as directed by the class clown. They offer fast paced entertainment, great character actors, twisty plot lines, explosions and more spent ordinance than used in a typical week in Baghdad. Even new genres breed clichés however and the original freshness heralded by Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is beginning to smell the slightest bit stale. This brings us to Smokin' Aces, a movie that isn't so smug as to be intolerable or so brilliant as to be ground breaking. Rather it is good, competent, workmanlike example of its genre, which is bad news for a movie that wants to be hip and edgy.

Smokin' Aces has the requisite twisty plot. Actually it has at least nine plots, all twisty. In fact it has so many plots the movie dissolves into a series of incidences strung together by a smattering of narrative glue. Aces, a card magician and mob nabob, turns federal stoolie and a dying Godfather posts a high dollar contract on him. Naturally every photogenic hit-man with the weekend free descends upon Ace's casino penthouse to do the job and collect the dough. Smokin' Aces tries hard and includes everything needed to qualify as guy noir. It even tries to incorporate the "Tarantino Digression". That is, extended expository flashbacks incorporated for no good reason except that they are fun to watch. Smoking Aces can't quite pull these off as they require a defter touch than the movie is capable of.

There aren't any real people in Smokin' Aces. All the characters are strictly stereotypes played for effect rather than reality. Jeremy Piven as Aces is the self loathing hop head, Alicia Keys and Georgia Sykes are the hot lesbian hit team, Ben Afleck is the hipster bounty hunter and so on. Everything you need to know about these guys you learn in the first split second they are on the screen. There is no star in Smokin' Aces. Afleck, the biggest name, has a relatively small part and is upstaged by his hat. You might remember Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling as the Tremor brothers if only because they were the loudest, most violent bunch in a loud violent movie. The only actor who rises above caricature is Ray Liotta, who invests his FBI agent with quiet dignity and a touch of pathos and in doing so sticks out like a sore thumb. It takes a strange sort of movie for a review to criticize the one genuinely good performance in it but Liotta just doesn't fit.

Smokin' Aces manages to hold its whirly gig self together for the most part. There are a few problems. It goes on too long after the climatic blood bath wrapping up plot threads you probably didn't notice amongst the explosions. There is a denouement where a hero, brought in from way out in left field, makes an existential choice that is not nearly as agonizing as the movie thinks it is because we have no emotional investment in the fellow making it. Though the final plot twist is prepared for and makes as much sense as anything else in the film, still it feels flat and unsatisfying. Think of Smokin' Aces as a shaggy dog story. It's long, involved and fun to listen to but ultimately goes nowhere.

There was a fair amount of comedy, thrill, and action. Each element was delivered at the right moment. The premise of the movie is not too complex. The movie provides enough background information in order for you to enjoy the movie. You have to buy in to the contrivance that multiple people are going to try to kill one man on the top floor of a casino. If you get pass that, you will have a really good time. Character performances were great. It has an amazing cast. Wonderful performances are given to Ryan Reynolds in a serious role and Jeremey Piven.

OVERALL...The story was good. This movie also had appealing eye-candy. You will get excited about this movie.

Smoking Aces is a film that tries hard, and in doing so is one that is not going to be easy to describe. The basic plot revolves around the central character "Aces" who is testifying against the mob, and in return has a contract out on his head. Locked away in his suite in Las Vegas, he is protected by the Fed, but there are multiple contract killers (all different from each as can be imagined!) out to get him.

First hour seems to be stuck piecing the different contract killers together and their background, whilst the Fed are shown to be trying to figure out what is going on. No one set of actors though gets above the others, and in doing so you have multiple stories in the film tied into the whole premise of the film. Acting is great by the general assemble which includes fine performances by Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta.

Problematically, the film tries to be too cool at the start, and reminds me too much of "Things to do in Denver...." and so on. In addition, the film is really confusing at points but is worth persevering with nevertheless. The complexity makes it very original, and you never know where its going, but it wraps up together in the last 30mins which are more than worth the cinema ticket alone.

No classic, but enjoyable, original and interesting overall..